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COR  TO  IS  and  VILA  IN 

A  Study  of  the  Distinctions  Made  Between 

Them  by  the  French  and  Provencal 

Poets  of  the  12th,  13th  and 

14th  Centuries 


BY 


STANLEY  LEMAN  GALPIN 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


A  THESIS  PRESENTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF 
YALE  UNIVERSITY   IN   CANDIDACY   FOR  THE  DEGREE 
OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 
1904 


RYDER  S  PRINTING  HOUSE 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 

I905 


http://www.archive.org/details/cortoisvilainstuOOgalprich 


COR  TO  IS  and  VILA  IN 


A  Study  of  the  Distinctions  Made  Between 

Them  by  the  French  and  Provencal 

Poets  of  the  12th,  13  th  and 

14th  Centuries 


BY 
STANLEY  LEMAN  GALPIN 


A  THESIS  PRESENTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF  THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF 
YALE   UNIVERSITY   IN    CANDIDACY   FOR   THE  DEGREE 
OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 
1904 


OF  THE 

NlVERStTY 

ryder's  printing  house 
new  haven,  conn. 

1905 


7^ 


It  gives  me  pleasure  to  express  here  my 
gratitude  to  Professors  Henry  R.  Lang  and 
Frederick  M.  Warren  of  Yale  University,  whose 
instruction  it  was  my  privilege  to  enjoy,  and  to 
whose  kindly  criticisms  and  helpful  suggestions 
this  thesis  owes  much. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


I.     Introduction,  .... 

II.     Historical,  .... 

III.  The  cortois  has  polished  manners ;  the  zrilain,  rude 

manners,  .... 

IV.  The  cortois  is  gentle  in  speech ;  the  vilain,  rough 
V.     The  cortois  has  mesure;  the  vilain  lacks  mesure, 

VI.     The  cortois  is  humble ;  the  vilain,  proud, 

VII.     The  cortois  is  considerate ;  the  vilain,  not  considerate 

VIII.     The  cortois  is  helpful ;  the  vilain,  not  helpful, 

IX.     The  cortois  is  good ;  the  vilain,  bad, 

X.     The  cortois  is  generous ;  the  vilain,  stingy, 

XL     The   cortois  is   richly   dressed;   the   vilain,   poorly 

dressed,  .... 

XII.     The  cortois  is  courageous ;  the  vilain,  cowardly, 

XIII.  The  cortois  is  versed  in  the  art  of  courtly  love ;  the 

vilain,  ignorant  of  the  art  of  courtly  love, 

XIV.  The  cortois  may  or  may  not  indulge  in  guilty  love 

the  vilain  indulges  in  guilty  love, 
XV.     The  cortois  is  merry ;  the  vilain,  gloomy, 
XVI.     The  cortois  is  beautiful ;  the  vilain,  ugly, 
XVII.     The  cortois  is  intelligent;  the  vilain,  stupid, 
XVIII.     The  cortois  is  religious ;  the  vilain,  not  religious, 
XIX.     (a)   Miscellaneous  attributes  of  the  cortois, 
XIX.     (b)   Miscellaneous  attributes  of  the  vilain, 
XX.     The  cortois  is  loved ;  the  vilain,  not  loved,     . 
XXI.     Conclusions,  .... 

Bibliography,  .... 

Index,  ..... 


PAGE. 

5 
13 

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3i 
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4i 
48 

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58 

67 
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82 

85 
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88 

95 

97 

101 


or  tmc 
UHWERS1TY 

OF 

■gALlFOJ 

)IS  ana 


I. 

INTRODUCTION.1 

In  southern  France,  as  is  well  known,  there  developed  in  the 
Middle  Ages  a  refined  aristocratic  society  such  as  for  a  time  was 
not  to  be  found  elsewhere,  and  which  has  had  a  permanent  influence 
upon  the  manners  and  modes  of  thought  of  all  Europe.  Long 
immunity  from  wars  had  brought  to  this  region  a  season  of  pros- 
perity during  which  the  arts  of  peace  were  cultivated.  Brilliant 
festivals  had  taken  the  place  of  warlike  preparations,  and  songs  of 
sentiment  were  heard  instead  of  songs  of  battle.2  An  important 
result  of  this  radical  change  of  activity  and  interest  from  the  things 
of  war  to  those  of  peace  was  the  social  emancipation  of  woman, 
due  also  in  large  measure  to  the  influence  of  the  cult  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  Leaving  the  inferior  position  which  she  had  long  occupied, 
and  accorded  a  degree  of  personal  freedom  hitherto  unknown  to 

*A  portion  of  the  expense  of  printing  this  thesis  has  been  borne  by  the 
Modern  Language  Club  of  Yale  University  from  funds  placed  at  its  disposal 
by  the  generosity  of  Mr.  George  E.  Dimock  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  in  the  Class  of  1874. 

2Ferdinand  Wolf  in  Stengel's  Ausgaben  und  Abhandlungen  LXXXVII, 
Marburg  1890,  pp.  35-6. 


bkar 

or  the 

UNIVERSITY 

or 

CAUFOj 

US  ana 


I. 

INTRODUCTION.1 

In  southern  France,  as  is  well  known,  there  developed  in  the 
Middle  Ages  a  refined  aristocratic  society  such  as  for  a  time  was 
not  to  be  found  elsewhere,  and  which  has  had  a  permanent  influence 
upon  the  manners  and  modes  of  thought  of  all  Europe.  Long 
immunity  from  wars  had  brought  to  this  region  a  season  of  pros- 
perity during  which  the  arts  of  peace  were  cultivated.  Brilliant 
festivals  had  taken  the  place  of  warlike  preparations,  and  songs  of 
sentiment  were  heard  instead  of  songs  of  battle.2  An  important 
result  of  this  radical  change  of  activity  and  interest  from  the  things 
of  war  to  those  of  peace  was  the  social  emancipation  of  woman, 
due  also  in  large  measure  to  the  influence  of  the  cult  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  Leaving  the  inferior  position  which  she  had  long  occupied, 
and  accorded  a  degree  of  personal  freedom  hitherto  unknown  to 

1A  portion  of  the  expense  of  printing  this  thesis  has  been  borne  by  the 
Modern  Language  Club  of  Yale  University  from  funds  placed  at  its  disposal 
by  the  generosity  of  Mr.  George  E.  Dimock  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  a 
graduate  of  Yale  in  the  Class  of  1874. 

2Ferdinand  Wolf  in  Stengel's  Ausgaben  und  Abhandlungen  LXXXVII, 
Marburg  1890,  pp.  35-6. 


"  6  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

her,  and  which  has  remained  hers  to  the  present  time,  owing  to  the 
lasting  influence  of  mediaeval  Provengal  culture,  she  stepped  at  once 
into  the  chief  place  in  the  new  society.  For  a  long  period  she  was 
the  centre  of  literary  interest  as  the  object  of  chivalric  love,  with 
which  the  poets  of  the  twelfth  century  were  mainly  occupied,  and 
which  offered  a  welcome  means  of  escape  from  a  domestic  life 
which  must  have  been  anything  but  ideal,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
marriages  under  the  feudal  system  were  contracted  for  political 
purposes  exclusively.  Under  the  influence  of  the  new  social  con- 
ditions a  commerce  de  courtoisie,  as  Langlois  has  expressed  it,1 
sprang  up  between  the  sexes. 

A  similar  transformation  took  place  in  the  aristocratic  society 
of  northern  France  after  Louis  VI  had  succeeded  in  overcoming 
the  turbulent  nobles  and  bringing  his  domain  into  a  state  of  tran- 
quility. This  transformation  was  fostered  by  contact  with  the  much 
more  advanced  civilization  of  Provence,  a  contact  which  was  brought 
about  by  the  Crusades,  by  the  trouveres,  who  imitated  the  love- 
songs  of  the  troubadours,  and  by  the  marriage  of  Louis  VII  with 
Eleanor  of  Poitou  in  1137.2 

The  institution  of  the  system  of  courtly  love  in  the  aristocratic 
society  of  France  is  of  interest  to  us  here  chiefly  because  it  empha- 
sized the  differences  already  existing  under  the  feudal  system  be- 
tween the  condition  of  the  noble  and  that  of  the  peasant,  and 
suggested  to  the  poets  comparisons  between  the  two  not  already 
suggested  by  the  feudal  system.  As  was  natural,  these  comparisons 
centered  about  the  question  of  courtly  love,  and  so  the  noble  is 
represented  to  us  as  endowed  with  all  the  graces  which  should  be 
found  in  a  successful  lover,  while  the  vilain,  or  peasant,  is  pictured 
as  lacking  these  graces  and  endowed  with  their  opposites.  The 
image  of  the  vilain  thus  drawn  is,  of  course,  a  greatly  exaggerated 
one.3 

Derived  respectively  from  the  Latin  *cortensis  and  *vHlamus,  the 
two  terms  cortois  and  vilain  denoted  originally  in  the  vernacular 
two  classes  socially  distinct.  The  cortois  was  the  noble,  inhabiting 
his  chateau  and  there  holding  his  court,  or  constituting  one  of  the 
members  of  the  court  of  a  noble  more  powerful  than  himself.  The 
,   term  is  thus  used  by  GefTrei  Gaimar  in  vv.  3617-20  of  Lest  or  ie  des 

1Origines  et  Sources  du  Roman  de  la  Rose,  p.  3. 

*Ibid„  p.  4. 

3See  Gaston  Paris  in  Romania   xxiv,  page  143. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  7 

Engles,  where  the  expression  li  curtais  is  evidently  equivalent  to 
cil  de  la  curt: 

Et  quant  iloc  tant  en  parlouent 

Cil  de  la  curt  i  repairouent: 

Et  li  curtais  ke  la  veaient 

De  sa  belte  mult  bien  disaient. 
The  term  is  also  thus  used  by  Wace,  Brut,  vv.  10008-19,  with  refer- 
ence to  those  who  frequented  King  Arthur's  court: 

N'estoit  pas  tenus  por  cortois 

Escos,  ne  Bertons,  ne  Frangois, 

Normant,  Angevin,  ne  Flamenc, 

Ne  Borgignon,  ne  Loherenc, 

De  qui  que  il  tenist  son  feu 

Des  ocidant  dusqu  'a  Mont  Geu, 

Qui  a  la  cort  le  roi  n'alast, 

Et  qui  od  lui  n'i  sojornast, 

Et  qui  n'avoient  vesteure 

Et  contenance  et  armeure, 

A  la  guise  que  cil  estoient 

Qui  en  la  cort  Artur  servoient. 
In  Jaufre,  Appel,  Prov.   Chrest.,  St.   3,  vv.   56-58,  we  read  that 
Brunissens'  castle  is  inhabited  by  cortois  young  men.    In  vv.  195 1-3 
of  the  Roman  de  Thebes,  the  word  cortois  is  used  of  courtiers, 
members  of  a  court : 

Li  chevalier  et  li  borgeis 

Et  li  vilain  et  li  corteis 

De  traison  le  rei  blastengent.1 
In  vv.  263-6  of  the  lai  of  Guingamor  the  word  cortois  is  used  in 
the  same  sense : 

Cil  de  la  vile,  li  borjois, 

Et  li  vilain  et  li  cortois 

Le  convoierent  austresi 

O  grant  dolor  et  o  grant  cri. 
The  vilain,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  peasant  who  cultivated  the 
villae  (agricultural  districts)  and  inhabited  the  villages  which  grew 
up  among  them.     Cf.  Du  Cange,  Glossarium:     Villani  dicti  sunt  a 

*Ct  the  passage   from  the  Roman   de  Robert  le  Diable  quoted  by  Du 
Cange  in  his  Glossarium  under  *corthesanus. 


8  C0RT01S  AND  VILAIN. 

villa,  eo  quod  in  villis  commorentur.     Also  Jean   de  Conde,  Des 
Vilains  et  des  C  our  tots,  vv.  14-15: 

II  sont  gent  qui  vilain  ont  non 

Pour  ce  qu'en  la  ville  demeurent. 
This  use  is  found  in  Marie  de  France,  Fables,  ix,  v.  1 :  Ci  dit  d'une 
suriz  vilaine,  with  which  compare  the  title,  De  mure  urbano  et  mure 
silvestri,  and  v.  9 :  La  suriz  de  ville  demande.  The  use  of  the 
term  vilain  to  denote  a  distinct  class  in  feudal  society  was  retained 
throughout  the  middle  ages  and  is  so  frequent  in  mediaeval  texts 
as  to  require  no  special  illustration  here. 

The  mediaeval  artistic  poetry  of  northern  France,  and  Provence, 
both  epic  and  lyric,  composed  primarily  to  be  sung  or  recited  at 
the  courts  of  the  nobles,  was  naturally  biased  in  favor  of  the  courtly 
class,  and  we  are  not  surprised  when  we  come  to  examine  the 
characteristics  assigned  to  this  class  by  the  mediaeval  poets  to  find 
that  they  are  almost  without  exception  favorable,  and  that  the  vilain, 
always  an  object  of  scorn  to  the  nobles,  is  pictured  as  lacking  all 
the  qualities  which  the  cortois  is  represented  as  possessing,  and 
endowed  with  the  opposites  of  these  qualities.  Jean  de  Conde  sums 
up  the  attitude  of  the  literature  of  the  twelfth  to  fourteenth  centuries 
toward  the  cortois  and  the  vilain  in  Des  Vilains  et  des  Courtois, 
vv.  1-3: 

Vilain  et  courtois  sont  contraire ; 

De  Tun  ne  puet  on  bien  retraire, 

Et  en  l'autre  n'a  fors  que  bien. 
The  poets,  in  pursuance  of  their  policy  of  flattering  the  courtly 
class,  refer  the  origin  and  inspiration  of  cortoisie  to  God.     Ille  et 
Galeron,  vv.  1618-20: 

Et  courtoisie  vient  de  Dieu, 

Et  qui  de  par  Dieu  preuz  devient 

Courtoisie  aime  et  si  s'i  tient. 
Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  235 : 

Diex  li  cortois  sans  vilonie, 

De  qui  muet  toute  cortoisie. 
Having  given  a  divine  origin  to  cortoisie,  the  poets  do  not  hesitate 
to  represent  the  acts  of  the  vilain  as  prompted  by  the  devil.     Ille  et 
Galeron,  vv.  161 5-7: 

Bien  sai  que  del  diable  est  plains 

Qui  pour  se  prouece  est  vilains; 

Vilonie  vient  de  vil  lieu. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  9< 

The  Bit  sur  les  vilains,  vv.  83-88,  assigns  to  the  vilain  a  still  less 
savory  origin. 

Many  mediaeval  texts  refer  to  the  fact,  undoubtedly  true,  that 
those  who  frequented  the  courts  of  the  nobles  acquired  a  degree  of 
culture  only  there  to  be  attained.  Dante  alludes  to  this  fact  in  his 
definition  of  cortesia  in  the  Convito,  tr.  ii,  c.  1 1 :  Cortesia  e  onestade 
e  tuttf  uno :  e  perocche  nelle  corti  anticamente  le  virtudi  e  li  belli 
costumi  s'nsavano  (siccome  oggi  s'usa  il  contrario) ,  si  tolse  questo 
vocabolo  dalle  corti;  e  fu  tanto  a  dire  cortesia,  quanto  uso  di  corte.1 
Thus  Wace,  Brut,  vv.  10016-9  (quoted  above),  and  vv.  10020-5: 

De  pluisors  terres  i  venoient 

Cil  qui  pris  et  honor  querroient. 

Tant  por  oi'r  ses  cortesies, 

Tant  por  veir  ses  mananties, 

Tant  por  conoistre  ses  barons, 

Tant  por  aveir  ses  rices  dons. 

Wace,  Rou,  vv.  2166-7: 

Richart,  lur  auoe,  ensemble  od  sei  merra, 

En  la  curt  od  sun  filz  curteisie  aprendra.2 
In  a  similar  manner,  the  word  vilenie  was  used  to  denote  any  action 
or  personal  characteristic  considered  by  courtly  poets  as  worthy  of  a 
vilain,3  from  whose  appellation  they  derived  it.  The  poets  occa- 
sionally declare  the  reverse  of  the  real  process  to  be  true,  thus 
casting  a  still  greater  slur  upon  the  objects  of  their  scorn.  Le 
Flabel  d'Aloul,  Fabliaux  i  24,  vv.  406-7: 

Par  droit  avez  vilain  a  non, 

Quar  vilain  vient  de  vilonie. 
Des  Vilains  et  des  Courtois,  vv.  20-21 : 

Bien  nous  monstre  raisons  et  drois 

Que  vilains  vient  de  vilenie. 
From  the  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  of  courtly  life  the  vilah: 
was  excluded.     Thebes,  vv.  4563-70 : 

JCf.  Alwin  Schultz,  Das  Hotische  Leben  zur  Zeit  der  Minnesinger.,  voL 
1,  PP-  155-6. 

2See  also  Tyolet,  vv.  209-310;  Sept  Sages,  vv.  441-6. 
3Cf.  Alwin  Schultz,  loc.  cit. 


io  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Onques  en  cort  a  nesun  rei 

Ne  veistes  tant  gent  conrei : 

Tuit  sont  de  maisniee  escherie, 

Que  li  dus  ot  tote  norrie, 

Treis  mile  fiz  de  vavasors 

Et  de  barons  et  de  contors ; 

N'en  i  ot  un  fil  de  vilain, 

Ne  qui  fust  nez  de  basse  main. 
The  mere  suggestion  of  the  vilain  was  unwelcome  at  court.     Le  Lai 
d'Aristote,  Fabliaux  v  137,  vv.  45-6: 

Quar  cevre  ou  vilonie  cort 

Ne  doit  estre  noncie  a  cort. 
The  vilain' s  fashion  of  speech  was  also  out  of  place  at  court.     Le 
Conte  de  Peitieu,  Rayn.  Choix  v,  p.  118: 

E  que  s  guart  en  cort  de  parlar 

Vilanamens. 
Even  if  permitted  to  associate  with  the  cortois,  it  was  impossible  for 
the  vilain  to  change  his  condition.     Blondel  de  Neele,  p.  40 : 

Mais  ce  m'en  a  doucement  conforte 

Qu'onques  je  ne  vi  courtoise  vilaine. 
Guillaume  de  Dole,  vv.  584-5  : 

Que  ja  por  nule  segnorie 

Nuls  vilains  n'iert  se  vilains  non. 
Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  122: 

Vilains  qui  est  cortois,  c'est  rage.1 
The  distinction  between  cortois  and  vilain  having  early  become 
firmly  established  and  developed,  it  was  no  longer  necessary  that 
a  man  should  be  a  member  of  the  courtly  class  in  order  to  deserve 
the  appellation  cortois,  it  was  enough  that  he  should  possess  the 
qualities  which  the  noble  was  supposed  to  possess.  In  the  same 
manner  any  man,  of  whatsoever  social  rank,  came  to  be  termed 
vilain  by  the  mediaeval  poets  if  his  characteristics  were  those  which 
courtly  poetry  had  attributed  to  the  vilain.  The  following  passages 
will  serve  to  show  the  confusion  as  to  social  status  which  arose 


1See  also  Dit  sur  les  ziiains,  vv.  8-18. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  u 

with  the  application  of  the  two  terms   to  all   classes   of  society. 
Geffrei  Gaimar,  Lestorie  des  Engles,  vv.  5504-6: 

Uns  hom  qui  amenout  peissons 

As  gardeins  long  le  mareis, 

Fist  ke  prodom  e  ke  curteis. 
Wace,  Brut,  vv.  10779-81 : 

Plus  erent  cortois  et  vaillant, 

Neis  li  povre  pa'isant 

Que  chevalier  en  autres  regnes.1 
Perceval,  v.  21653 : 

Moult  estes  vilains  chevalier.2 
The  fact  that  the  terms  cortois5  and  vilain  both  substantive  and 
adjective,  and  the  abstract  nouns  cortoisie  and  vilenie,  had  come  into 
general  use  to  distinguish  in  regard  to  personal  qualities  rather 
than  social  rank  is  discussed  at  length  by  Jean  de  Conde  in  Des 
Vilains  et  des  Court vis.  He  sums  up  his  views  on  the  subject  in 
vv.  137-144: 

Par  tant  qui  bien  dist  et  bien  cevre 

Et  qui  s'assent  a  la  bonne  cevre 

Gentius  et  courtois  est  par  droit, 

Je  le  vous4  affi  ci  endroit ; 

Et  celui  non  de  vilain  done 

Qui  a  vilounie  abandone 

Son  cuer  et  le  vuelt  maintenir; 

Devant  tous  Pi  veul  soustenir. 
In  the  Dit  de  Gcntillece,  Jubinal,  Nouv.  Rec.  ii,  pp.  55-6,  the  poet 
enlarges  upon  the  same  conception  of  the  vilain  as 

Li  hom  qui  fet  la  vilonie, 

Puisque  li  cuers  s'i  abandone. 
This  sentiment  had  already  been  voiced  in  Li  respit  del  curteis  et  del 
znlain,  strophe  43 : 

^ee  also  Sept  Sages,  vv.  2484-8;  Perceval,  vv.  24779-85;  De  Florance  et 
de  Blanche  Flor,  v.  95  and  vv.  329-333. 

2See  also  the  following  passages  in  which  a  knight  is  termed  vilain: 
L'Atre  Perillous,  v.  3878;  Perceval,  vv.  16534-7;  Erec,  v.  198. 

3It  may  be  noted  in  passing  that  the  word  gentile  seems  to  have  assumed 
to  a  certain  extent  in  Italian  the  role  played  by  the  word  cortois  in  French. 

4The  text  reads  vons. 


12  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Nature  mult  ferm  lie 

Et  moustre  sa  mestrie 

La  ou  soun  regne  tient. 

Ne  blametz  vilein  mie, 

S'il  dit  sa  vileinie ! 

De  nature  li  vient. 

Frut  preoue  bien,  de  quel  arbre  il  est. 
It  also  appears  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  68 : 

Vilonnie  fait  li  vilains. 
The  purpose  of  our  study  is  to  discover  at  what  period  the 
contrast  between  cortois  and  vilain  begins  to  be  made,  to  follow  it 
down  into  the  fourteenth  century,  and  to  ascertain  in  regard  to 
what  personal  qualities  or  characteristics  this  contrast  was  made  by 
the  poets  of  northern  France  and  Provence.  Our  surest  evidence 
has  been  found  in  passages  which  declare  that  one  who  follows  a 
certain  line  of  conduct  is  cortois,  or  is  vilain  (substantive  or  ad- 
jective), as  the  case  may  be.  Other  passages  of  equal  value  state 
that  cortoisie,  or  vilenie,  consists  in  following  a  certain  course  of 
action.  This  direct  evidence  has  been  supplemented  by  indirect 
evidence  from  passages  in  which  the  quality  or  characteristic  under 
consideration  is  closely  associated  with  cortoisie  or  vilenie;  e.g. 
L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  6164-5,  Et  si  sai  moult  bien  et  si  croi,  Que 
estes  cortois  et  vaillans,  in  which  cortoisie  and  valor  are  mentioned 
together,  and  the  idea  of  the  latter  term  is  already  connoted  by  the 
first,  and  more  general,  term. 

I  have  divided  the  subject  into  sections,  each  one  being  devoted 
to  the  consideration  of  a  quality  or  characteristic  attributed  to  the 
cortois  and  of  the  opposite  of  this  quality  attributed  to  the  vilain, 
and  the  sections  have  been  arranged  genetically  so  as  to  fall  into 
two  groups,  sections  III  to  XII  inclusive  dealing  with  those  qualities 
which  concern  a  man  in  his  feudal  relations,  and  sections  XIII  to 
XVIII  inclusive  with  those  which  concern  him  as  a  lover.  The 
inductions,  viz.,  the  statements  of  the  qualities  or  characteristics  of 
the  cortois  and  vilain  respectively,  have  been  used  as  headings  for 
the  sections,  and  the  material  from  which  they  have  been  drawn 
appears  under  each  one,  arranged  logically  rather  than  chronologi- 
cally. The  divisions  will  be  found  not  to  be  always  mutually  ex- 
clusive, but  they  are  as  nearly  as  possible  those  suggested  by  the 
material  upon  which  they  are  based. 


CORTOIS  AND  V1LAIN.  13 

II. 

THE  CORTOIS  AND  THE  VILAIN  ARE  REPRESENTED  AS  POSSESSING 
OPPOSITE  CHARACTERISTICS  AS  EARLY  AS  THE  BEGINNING  OF 
THE   12TH    CENTURY   AND   AS    LATE   AS   THE  14TH    CENTURY. 

Passages  in  which  the  cortois  is  set  off  against  the  vilain  as 
his  direct  opposite  begin  to  appear  at  a  very  early  period  in  French 
and  Provengal  literature.  The  first  instance  I  have  been  able  to 
find  appears  in  the  canso,  Mout  iauzens  me  prenc  en  amor,  written 
by  Guilhem,  comte  de  Peitieu,  the  first  Provengal  troubadour  whose 
works  have  come  down  to  us,  and  who  reigned  from  1087  to  1127. 
Appel,  Prov.  Chrest.,  St.  II,  vv.  25-30: 

Per  son  ioy  pot  malautz  sanar 

E  per  sa  ira  sas  morir 

E  savis  horn  enfolezir 

E  belhs  horn  sa  beutat  mudar 

E'l  plus  cortes  vilaneiar 

E'l  totz  vilas  encortezir. 
The  first  example  I  am  able  to  quote  in  French  dates  from  approxi 
mately  the  same  period,  and  appears  in  the  rhymed  sermon  Grant 
mal  fist  Adam,  written  in  the  first  third  of  the  12th  century.     In 
the  last  two  verses  of  strophe  30  contrast  is  made  between  wise  and 
foolish,  and  between  corteis  and  vilain : 

Dune  puis  jeo  p  rover, 

e  raisun  mostrer, 

qu'il  sunt  mi  proceain, 

quant  d'un  sol  lignage 

sunt  e  fol  e  sage, 

corteis  e  vilain. 
Continuing  in  chronological  order,  an  instance  is  found  in  Quant 
Vaura  donssa  s'amarzis,  a  canso  written  by  the  troubadour  Cercamon, 
who  flourished  between   the  years    1120  and    1135.     Appel,   Prov. 
Chrest,  St.  13,  vv.  49-51 : 

Per  lieys  serai  totz  fals  o  fis, 

o  vertadiers  o  pies  d'enian, 

o  totz  vilas  o  totz  cortes. 
Jaufre  Rudel,  a  troubadour  who  wrote  in  the  period  between  the 
years   1130  and  1147,  offers  an  example.     Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  95: 

Quar  ieu  dels  plus  envilanitz 

Cug  que  sion  cortes  leyau. 


14  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

The  Roman  de  Troie,  written  c.  1160-70,  contains  the  next  examples 
I  have  found  in  French.     Vv.  5335-8: 

Sa  corteisie  par  fu  tex, 

Que  cil  de  Troie  et  cil  des  Grex 

Envers  lui  furent  dreit  vilain : 

Ainz  plus  cortois  ne  menja  pain. 
Ibid.,  v.  10232 : 

Qu'el  n'ert  vilaine  mes  corteise. 
Wace,  in  Rou,  written  1160-1174,  v.  2888,  offers  another  example: 

Cheualier(s)  riche  e  poure,  e  vilain (s)  e  curteis. 
Chretien  de  Troies  contrasts  vilain  and   cortois,  and  vilenie  and 
cortoisie,  in  two  passages  in  his  Yvain,  written  c.  1173.     Vv.  31-32: 

Qu'ancor  vaut  miauz,  ce  m'est  a  vis, 

Uns  cortois  morz  qu'uns  vilains  vis. 
Ibid.,  vv.  2212-4: 

Onques  voir  tant  ne  s'avilla 

Qu'il  deist  de  vos  vilenie 

Tant  com  il  a  fet  corteisie. 
In  vv.  5836-7  of  his  Perceval,  written  c.  n  77,  appears  the  same 
antithesis.  Vv.  8377-84  of  Partonopens  de  Blois,  written  before 
1 188,  imply  that  there  is  a  greater  distance  between  vilenie  and 
cortoisie  than  there  is  from  hell  to  heaven  above.  Returning  to 
Provence,  we  find  the  antithesis  between  cortois  and  vilain  in  the 
writings  of  Pons  de  Capdueil  (fl.  1180-1190),  Bertran  de  Born 
(fl.  1156-1196),  Rambaud  de  Vaqueiras  (fl.  1180-1207),  and  N'Uc 
Brunet  de  Rodes  (fl.  c.  1 190-1200).  Pons  de  Capdueil,  Rayn. 
Choix  iii,  p.  183  : 

Qu'el  plus  vilains  es,  quan  vos  ve, 

Cortes,  e  us  porta  bona  fe. 
Bertran  de  Born,  Rayn.  Choix  iv,  p.  264 : 

Guerra  fai  de  vilan  cortes. 
Rambaud  de  Vaqueiras,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  256; 

E  sai  esser  plazens  et  enoios, 
E  vils  e  cars  e  vilas  e  cortes, 
Avols  e  pros,  e  conosc  mals  e  bes. 
N'Uc  Brunet  de  Rodes,  quoted  in  the  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  32533-5 : 
Atretan  leu  pot  horn  ab  cortezia 
Renhar  qui  sap  et  ab  fahs  avinens 
Cum  ab  foldat  ni  ab  far  vilania. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  15 

A  similar  contrast  between  cortois  and  vilain  appears  in  the  writ- 
ings of  later  poets  as  follows:  Blondel  de  Neele  (fl.  end  of  12th 
cent.),  ed.  Tarbe  p.  40.  Perceval  ( Pseudo-Gautier ;  after  1200), 
v.  12788.  Guiraut  de  Bornelh  (fl.  1 175-1220),  Kolsen  p.  92. 
L'Atre  Perillous  (c.  1215-20),  vv.  5100-5102.  Guerin's  fablel  Du 
chevalier  qui  fist  les  c.  parler  (first  third  of  13th  cent.),  Fabliaux 
vi  147,  vv.  186-8.  Guerin's  fablel  De  la  Grue,  Fabliaux  v  126,  vv. 
11-13.  Hugues  de  Saint-Cyr  (troubadour,  fl.  1200-56),  Rayn. 
Choix  v,  p.  226.  Li  respit  del  curteis  et  del  vilain  (first  half  of 
13th  cent.),  strophe  44.  Flamenca  (1234  or  1235),  vv.  6771-5. 
Guillaume  de  Lorris,  in  the  first  part  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose'  (c. 
1237),  ed.  Michel  i  p.  122.  The  fablel  Du  prestre  et  du  chevalier, 
by  Milon  d' Amiens  (c.  middle  of  13th  cent.),  Fabliaux  ii  34,  vv. 
188-9.  La  Clef  d' Amors  (1280),  vv.  2654-6;  vv.  691-2.  Matfre 
Ermengaud,  in  his  Breviari  d'Amor  (begun  in  1288),  vv.  31419-20; 
vv.  3097I"5- 

The  latest  dated  example  of  the  antithesis  of  cortois  and  vilain 
which  I  have  found  within  the  limits  of  the  material  examined 
appears  in  Des  Vilains  et  des  Courtois,  by  Jean  de  Conde,  who 
flourished  between  the  years  13 13  and  1340,  and  thus  had  more 
than  two  centuries  of  courtly  poetry  and  tradition  from  which  to< 
draw  the  conclusions  he  sets  forth  in  vv.  1-3 : 

Vilain  et  courtois  sont  contraire; 

De  Tun  ne  puet  on  bien  retraire, 

Et  en  l'autre  n'a  fors  que  bien. 
The  didactic  poem  De  Courtoisie,  for  which  I  have  na|  date,  places 
les  curtaisies  in  antithesis  to  les  villainies,  strengthening  the  contrast 
by  paralleling  it  with  one  between  cleanliness  and  filth  (vv.  116-9)  : 

Plus  ameretz  les  curtaisies 

Et  lerretz  les  villainies. 

Plus  ameretz  les  nectetetz, 

Les  ordures  enchiueretz. 
Paul  Meyer  in  Romania  xii,  p.  15,  note  3,  prints  a  North  Italian 
Alfabeto  del  villano,  whose  ideas  he  considers  to  be  of  the  middle 
ages,  although  its  redaction  is  modern.  It  contains  a  series  of 
insults  addressed  to  the  vilain,  and  (vv.  3-4)  contrasts  cortesia  and 
villania : 

Bonta  non  regna  in  lui,  ne  cortesia, 

Ma  sol  malizia,  inganni  e  villania.i 


16  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

This  Alfabeto  is  especially  interesting  to  us.  in  that  it  brings  the 
conventional  expression  of  hatred  for  the  vilain,  which  prevailed  in 
mediaeval  courtly  circles,  down  to  modern  times. 


III. 

THE     CORTOIS     HAS     POLISHED     MANNERS;     THE     VILAIN     HAS     RUDE 
MANNERS. 

The  distinction  drawn  between  the  cortois  and  the  vilain,  the 
one  possessed  of  an  agreeable  and  polished  manner,  the  other  rough 
and  rude,  is  a  fundamental  one,  for  its  cause  goes  back  to  the  orig- 
inal social  distinction  between  the  two.  The  cortois,  reared  at 
court  in  the  midst  of  the  highest  culture  of  his  time,  naturally 
acquired  from  his  training  and  traditions  a  courtliness  of  bearing 
that  was  entirely  foreign  to  the  peasant,  reared  outside  the  castle 
walls  and  deprived  of  social  intercourse  on  equal  terms  with  its 
inmates.1  This  distinction  is  made  the  most  of  by  the  courtly  poets, 
though  its  original  significance  with  respect  to  social  caste  is  often 
overlooked:  e.g.  Du  Prestre  et  d' Alison,  Fabliaux  ii  31,  vv.  23-25: 

Fille  estoit  a  une  Borgoise, 

Ainz  nule  n'en  vi  plus  cortoise, 

Certes,  ne  de  meillor  maniere. 

(a)    THE  CORTOIS  HAS  POLISHED  MANNERS. 

Courteous  treatment  of  ladies  was.  an  essential  part  of  the  code 
of  manners  of  the  cortois.  Chretien  de  Troies  in  Cliges,  vv.  1349- 
51,  says  that  Alixandres,  as  an  act  of  cortoisie,  gave  into  the  queen's 
charge  the  first  prisoner  he  took  as  a  knight : 

Alixandres  par  corteisie 

Sa  premiere  chevalerie 

Done  et  presante  la  re'ine. 
In  vv.  8429-32  of  Perceval,  Chretien  commends  Gawain  as  debonair e 
et  cortois  for  assisting  a  maiden  to  mount  her  palfrey.  In  vv. 
3169-73  of  Perceval,  he  terms  Perceval's  gentle  reception  of  his 
hostess,  who  came  to  him  in  the  night  to  implore  his  aid,  cortoisie. 
In  vv.  11687-99  of  Perceval  we  are  told  how  "the  king,  who  was 
very  cortois  toward  everyone,"  sent  an  abundance  of  provisions  to 
the  besieged  maidens  in  whose  behalf  his  aid  had  been  solicited.     In 

1See  Schultz,  Das  Hotische  Leben,  vol.  i,  pp.  155-6. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  17 

vv.  11784-98  of  Perceval  a.  similar  act  is  ascribed  to  Kay  and  termed 
grant  cortoisie.  La  Clef  d' Amors,  vv.  1037-43,  says  that  one  should 
praise  his  lady  cortoisement,  i.e.  as  the  cortois  does,  for  even  if  she 
is  not  beautiful  she  will  believe  the  praise  and  rejoice  at  it.  The 
attitude  of  the  cortois  toward  his  lady  is  summed  up  in  the  words 
of  the  lady  Ydoine  in  her  regret  for  her  absent  lover,  the  cortois 
Count  Garsiles;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  57,  vv.  36-7: 

tant  estes  dous  et  frans,  cortois  et  debonaire, 

c'onques  riens  envers  moi  ne  vousistes  mesfaire. 
The  cortois  showed  his  breeding  in  his  salutation.     The  Roman 
de  Thebes,  vv.  3897-8,  refers  to  a  salutation  made  in  the  manner 
»of  the  cortois: 

Vers  lei  en  vait  isnelement, 

Salua  la  corteisement. 
So  also  Flamenca,  vv.  6451-3: 

Flamenca  fon  mout  plasentiera 

Et  aculli  los  volontiera 

E  cortesamenz  los  saluda.1 
The  cortois,  when  in  the  presence  of  a  royal  person,  saluted  him 
or  her  first,  and  then  the  rest  of  the  assembly.     Thebes,  vv.  1267-70: 

Tydeiis  fu  proz  et  corteis: 

A  cheval  vint  devant  le  deis, 

Le  rei  salue  et  son  barnage, 

Et  en  apres  dist  son  message.2 
When  no  royal  person  was  present  the  code  of  cortois  behaviour 
required  that  the  person  of  highest   rank  should  be  first  saluted, 
then  the  others  present.     Du  prestre  et  du  chevalier,  Fabliaux  ii  34, 
vv.  264-5  : 

Si  saluent  courtoisement 

Le  chevalier  et  se  maisnie. 

Vv.  3698-3700  of  L'Atre  PeriUous  mention  the  obligation  resting 
upon  the  cortois  to  make  a  salutation  first  before  otherwise  address- 
ing the  person  whom  he  encounters : 

Mesire  Gavains  li  demande, 

Mais  qu'il  l'ot  salue  ancois 

Come  debonnaire  et  cortois. 


*See  also  Le  Chevalier  a  I'Epee,  vv.  274-5;  Blancandin,  vv.  885-6;  Bartsch, 
A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  70,  v.  21,  and  ii  50,  vv.  9-10. 

2See  also  Perceval,  vv.  30936-8;  Flamenca,  vv.  818-21. 


1 8  CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN. 

Ci.  also  Thebes^  vv.  1267- 1270,  quoted  above.  It  was  the  duty  of 
a  cortois  person,  when  saluted,  to  make  a  salutation  in  return. 
Perceval,  vv.  33065-71 : 

Quant  Gauwains  l'a  bien  esgardee, 

Moult  hautement  l'a  saluee 

De  Dieu  le  pere  omnipotent ; 

Le  damoisele  n'i  atent 

Ne  tant  ne  quant,  ains  se  leva 

Et  moult  biel  le  resalua 

Com  cele  qui  moult  ert  cortoise.1 
As  the  cortois  saluted  when  meeting  another  person,   so  he  took 
formal  leave  when  quitting  another's  presence.     Chretien  de  Troies 
mentions  a  cortois  leave-taking  in  Lancelot,  vv.  595-9: 

Li  chevalier  congie  ont  pris 

Come  cortois  et  bien  apris 

A  la  dameisele,  et  si  l'ont 

Saluee,  puis  si  s'an  vont 

Si  con  la  rote  aler  an  virent.2 
Andre  le  Chapelain,  De  Amore,  p.  309,  refers  to  this  custom  in  the 
words,  et  abeundi  curialiter  accepta  licentia. 

When  approached  by  a  stranger,  or  when  so  concealed  by  armour 
that  his  identity  was  in  doubt,  the  cortois  was  bound  by  courtly 
etiquette  to  give  his  name  when  asked  for  it.  In  vv.  1932-9  of 
Lancelot  Chretien  defines  the  giving  of  one's  name  when  it  is  re- 
quired as  cortoisie: 

Et  dist :     "Sire,  or  ai  grant  anvie 

Que  je  seiisse  vostre  non  ; 

Diriiez  le  me  vos?" — "Je  non," 

Fet  li  chevaliers,  "par  ma  foi." 

"Certes,"  fet  il,  "ce  poise  moi ; 

Mes  se  vos  le  me  disiiez, 

Grant  corteisie  feriiez, 

S'i  porriiez  avoir  grant  preu." 
The  remaining  passages  which  illustrate  this  point  appear  in  those 
portions  of  Perceval  which  were  written  by  Chretien's  successors: 

*See  also  Perceval,  vv.  40799-40801 ;  Tydorel,  vv.  55-7. 
2See  also  Perceval,  vv.  44841-2;  Du  prestre   teint,  Fabliaux  vi  139,  vv. 
278-9;  Du  prestre  et  du  chevalier,  Fabliaux   ii  34,  vv.  978-9. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  19 

vv.  12075-7,  23526-8,  23769-71,  24899-24904,  28248-53,  33012-15, 
34322-5.  The  reason  why  it  was  considered  cortoisie  for  a  man  to 
make  known  his  identity  is  explained  in  vv.  6174-7  of  L'Atre  Peri- 
lous, where  it  is  shown  that  unwillingness  to  fight  with  one  who 
was  unworthy  prompted  a  man  to  find  out  the  name  of  his  opponent 
before  beginning  a  combat : 

Car  ice  m'ensegna  mon  mestre 

C'a  home  ne  me  conbatisse, 

Que  son  non  ne  li  enqueisse, 

Si  n'iere  pas  faus  ne  vilain. 

The  same  reasons  naturally  applied  to  ordinary  intercourse  also; 
ibid.,  vv.  5038-47. 

The  cortois  displayed  his  courtesy  in  all  his  actions.  When 
walking  with  a  lady  he  went  upon  her  right  hand.  Le  Chevalier 
a  I'Epee,  vv.  263-5  : 

Li  ostes,  qui  n'ert  pas  vilain, 

L'a  prise  par  la  destre  main, 

Si  l'a  en  la  sale  amenee. 
Du  prestre  et  du  chevalier,  Fabliaux  ii  34,  v.  678 : 

Biel  et  courtoisement  l'adestre. 
The  manner  in  which  he  seated  himself  beside  his  lady  showed  his 
breeding.     Fabliaux  iv  108,  vv.  58-59: 

Lez  li  s'asist  cortoisement, 

Et  la  damoisele  lez  lui. 
He  accepted  a  favor  graciously.     Perceval,  vv.  41614-6: 

De  la  reube  li  font  present, 

Et  cil  moult  gentement  le  prist 

Cui  sens  et  cortoisie  aprist. 
It  was  an  act  of  cortoisie  for  a  maiden  to  give  her  champion  a  gage 
to  wear  in  the  combat.     Perceval,  vv.  6794-7 : 

Je  vos  comanc  et  abandon, 

Por  qou  que  sera  courtoisie, 

Que  vous  aucune  druerie 

Li  envoies,  u  mance,  u  gimple. 
Cortoisie  required  the  recipient  of  the  gage  to  treat  it  with  respect. 
Flamenca,  vv.  7792-4: 

Guillems  pren  la  marga  corren, 

Desplega  la  cortesamen, 

Dedins  l'escut  la  fes  pausar. 


20  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

Even  the  most  commonplace  action  might  be  performed  in  a  way 
to  indicate  breeding.  Vv.  222^-y  of  Flamenca  say  that  Guillem 
washed,  then  laced  his  sleeves  mout  cortesamen,  an  expression  which 
Paul  Meyer  translates  elegamment. 

(b)    THE   VILAIN  HAS   RUDE   MANNERS. 

An  unpolished  and  rude  manner  is  attributed  to  the  zrilain,  espe- 
cially in  his  relations  with  women.  In  Perceval,  vv.  6737-9,  Gawain 
says  that  he  would  be  vilain  if  he  refused  his  aid  to  the  petite  title 
(v.  671 1 )  : 

"Certes,  fait  mesire  Gauwains, 

Dont  seroie-jou  trop  vilains 

Se  sa  volente  ne  faisoie. 
Crossing  a  woman's  will  is  also  the  theme  of  vv.  38636-42  of  Perce- 
val, in  which  Gorgaris  is  represented  as  laying  his  hand  upon  the 
reins  of  Lady  Damelehaut's  palfrey  to  detain  her  against  her  wish. 
She  says  to  him  in  remonstrance,  vv.  38639-42 : 

.    .    .   "Biaus  sire,  avoi !  avoi ! 

N'a  mon  frain  n'a  mon  palefroi 

Ne  metes  a  mon  pois  la  main ; 

Car  moult  feries  que  vilain." 
In  vv.  2150-4  of  Perceval,  King  Arthur  tells  Perceval  of  the  gross 
discourtesy  of  the  Red  Knight  to  the  queen,  and  terms  is  oevre  .  . 
vilaine.  In  vv.  52 10- 11  of  Lancelot,  news  which  causes  the  queen 
to  grieve  is  said  not  to  be  cortoise,  i.e.  vilaine.  Gawain's  bride, 
deserted  by  him,  refers  to  his  unceremonious  departure  as  grant 
vilenie  in  vv.  1 154-7  of  Le  Chevalier  a  I'Bpee.  Personal  violence 
to  women,  or  permitting  such  violence  in  one's  presence,  was  con- 
sidered vilenie.     Erec,  vv.  4827-31 : 

"Ostez,  sire!"  font  il  au  conte. 

"Mout  devriiez  avoir  grant  honte. 

Qui  ceste  dame  avez  ferue 

Por  ce  que  ele  ne  manjue. 

Trop  grant  vilenie  avez  feite." 
Ibid.,  vv.  198-200 : 

Mout  est  li  chevaliers  vilains, 

Quant  il  sofri  que  teus  feiture 

Feri  si  bele  creature.1 

JSee  also  Chevalier  a  VfLpee,  vv.  923-5 ;  Du  chevalier  qui  fist  les  c.  parler, 
Fabliaux    vi  147,  vv.  152-5. 


C0RT01S  AND  VILA1N.  21 

We  have  seen  above  that  the  cortois  gave  his  name  when  asked 
for  it.  Refusal  to  name  himself  rendered  a  man  liable  to  the  charge 
of  vilenie.     Perceval,  vv.  32968-93 

Je  ne  vos  quier  mon  nom  celer, 

Que  jou  feroie  vilounie. 
L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  5738-40: 

Aniex  seroie  et  vilains 

Se  jou  a  vous  ni  a  autrui 

Celoie  jamais,  qui  je  sui. 
Vv.  32936-45  of  Perceval  relate  how  Gawain  came  up  to  Perce- 
val, who  was  meditating  upon  the  drops  of  blood  on  the  snow  and 
mentally  comparing  the  contrasted  colors  with  those  of  his  lady's 
face,  and  shook  him.  Perceval,  rudely  startled  from  his  reverie, 
terms  Gawain's  discourtesy  znlonie  (vv.  32938-41)  : 

"Vassal,  fait-il,  trop  grant  posnee 

Faites  issi  quant  me  boutes 

Et  desacies  et  dehurtes; 

Sachies  que  c'est  grant  vilonie." 
The  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  123,  gives  the  details  of  the  uncouth 
actions  of  an  angry  vilain : 

Lors  leva  li  vilains  la  hure, 

Frote  ses  iex  et  ses  behure, 

Fronce  le  nes,  les  iex  rooille, 

Et  fu  plains  d'ire  et  de  rooille, 

Quant  il  s'oi  si  mal  mener. 
Vv.  49-54  of  Du  vilain  an  buffet,  Fabliaux  iii  80,  describe  the  glut- 
tony of  a  vilain : 

Et  li  vilains,  comme  porciaus, 

S'encressoit,  et  plains  ses  bouciaus 

Bevoit  de  vin  en  larrecin, 

Maint  eras  chapon  et  maint  pucin 

Menja  toz  seus  en  sa  despensse ; 

A  autre  honor  fere  ne  pensse. 
La  Clef  d' Amors,  vv.  3241-4,  warns  against  the  eating  of  garlic 
alone,  remarking  that  it  is  a  vilaine  thing  for  one  to  corrupt  his 
breath. 


22  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

IV. 

THE   CORTOIS  IS   GENTLE  AND   COURTEOUS   IN   SPEECH;   THE    VILAIN   IS 
ROUGH  IN  SPEECH.i 

(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS   GENTLE  AND   COURTEOUS   IN   SPEECH. 

Mediaeval  poetry,  both  French  and  Provencal,  is  full  of  evidence 
that  there  was  a  manner  of  speech  distinctly  cortois.  As  early  as 
the  Chanson  de  Roland  we  find  references  to  this  fact.  Vv.  1164 
and  3823 : 

Si  lur  ad  dit  un  mot  curteisement : 

Curteisement  a  l'empereor  dit. 
In  the  1 2th  century  similar  expressions  appear  in  Thebes,  v.  989; 
Alexandre  (10-syll.,  Arsenal  Ms.),  Meyer  i  p.  45,  vv.  456-7;  Erec, 
v.  1207;  Lancelot,  v.  242;  Guillaume  D'Angleterre,  v.  2242;  Perce- 
val, vv.  2792,  and  9343-4;  Bertrand  de  Born,  Rayn.  Choix  iv,  p.  171 : 

Lo  sors  Enrics  dis  paraula  corteza. 
In  the  13th  century  references  to  a  cortois  fashion  of  speech  are 
found  in  the  Chevalier  a  I'lipee,  vv.  300-303 ;  L'Atre  Perillous,  vv. 
1273,  3073,  5505,  and  6426-7;  Perceval,  vv.  15746,  10746,  and 
43082;  Flamenca,  vv.  6885-6,  7341-3,  and  3602;  Le  Roman  de  la 
Rose,  i  p.  109;  Le  Jugement  des  c,  Fabliaux  v  122,  v.  32;  the 
Romans  de  un  ckivaler,  etc.,  Fabliaux  ii  50,  vv.  275,  325-6,  and  484; 
Du  prestre  et  du  chevalier,  Fabliaux  ii  34,  vv.  797  and  1285;  La 
Clef  d' Amors,  v.  509;  Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  29159-60,  30017, 
and  30967;  Blancandin,  vv.  587-8,  2716,  and  3505-7. 

Indirect  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  form  of  speech  peculiar 
to  cortoisie,  and  of  its  superiority,  is  found  in  the  following  pas- 
sages.    Lancelot,  vv.  40-2: 

Si  ot  avuec  li,  ce  me  sanble, 

Mainte  bele  dame  cortoise,  1 

Bien  parlant  an  langue  frangoise. 
Bernard  de  Ventadour,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  87 : 

Cum  es  ben  faitz,  e  ben  chauzitz 

De  cortezia  e  de  bels  ditz. 
Tydorel,   vv.    397-8;   Le   sentier   batu,   Fabliaux   iii   85,    vv.    33-4. 
Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  y2,  v.  4. 

aThis  section  is  logically  a  subdivision  of  the  preceding  one. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  23 

That  gentleness  was  a  characteristic  of  cortois  speech  is  indicated 
by  the  following  passages.     Pel.  de  Charlemagne,  v.  710: 

Purquant  si  fut  curteise,  gente  parole  at  dite. 
Erec,  vv.  4077-81 : 

Biaus  nies  Gauvains,  ce  dist  li  rois, 

S'onques  fustes  frans  ne  cortois, 

Alez  apres  isnelemant, 

Demandez  amiablemant 

De  son  estre  et  de  son  afeire. 
Breviari  d' Amor,  quoting  from  Garis  lo  Brus,  vv.  32240-1 : 

Cortezia  es  d'amar 

Et  es  de  gent  parlar.1 
An  illustration  of  this  gentleness  of  speech  is   found  in  passages 
which  represent  the  cortois  man  as  first  calling  down  God's  blessing 
upon  the  one   whom  he  addresses,   and  sometimes  also  upon  the 
others  present.     Perceval,  vv.  12044-6: 

Cortoisement  et  biau  li  dist : 

"Cil  Diex  vos  saut  et  gart,  pucele, 

Qui  vos  fist  issi  gente  et  biele  !"2 
Du  mantel  maiitaillic,  Fabliaux  iii  55,  vv.  138- 141 : 

Quant  en  la  sale  fu  entre, 

Cortoisement  et  biau  parla : 

"Cel  Diex,"  fet  il,  "qui  tout  forma, 

Saut  et  gart  ceste  compaignie." 
In  his  ordinary  conversation,  also,  the  cortois  man  was  polite  and 
courteous.     Pel.  de  Charlemagne,  vv.  716-717: 

La  fille  fu  bien  cointe,  e  il  dist  que  curteis : 

"Dame,  mult  estes  bele,  estes  fille  de  rei   .    .   " 
Perceval,  vv.  594-8: 

Li  sire  est  contre  lui  venus, 

Si  li  a  dit  courtoisement : 

"Biaus  amis,  se  Dex  vous  ament, 

De  vos  noveles  nos  contes, 

Des  plus  voires  que  vous  saves."3 

^ee  also  Perceval,  vv.  3085-90;  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  41. 
2See  also  Perceval,  vv.  12037-9;  ibid.,  vv.  41373-7. 
*See  also  Perceval,  vv.  2109-13;  ibid.,  vv.  12624-7. 


24  CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN. 

Jaufre,  Appel,  Prov.  direst,  St.  3,  vv.  212-5 : 

e  respondet  cortesamens : 

"Franc  cavallier,  per  Dieu  non  sia ; 

vailla  mi  ta  cavallaria, 

ton  pretz  e  ton  enseinament. 
Blancandin,  vv.   1707-17 10: 

L'enfes  respont  par  cortoisie: 

"Dame,  gou  ne  refus  jou  mie. 

Por  vostre  amiste  a  conquer  re 

Vous  aiderai  de  ceste  guerre." 
There  is  a  considerable  number  of  didactic  passages  which  have 
reference  to  the  manner  of  speech  of  the  cortois.     The  Roman  de  la- 
Rose,  i  p.  70,  directs,  the  man  who  would  be  cortois  to  be  clean  in 
his  speech: 

Apres,  garde  que  tu  ne  dies 

Ces  ors  moz  ne  ces  ribaudies ; 

Ja  por  nomer  vilaine  chose 

Ne  doit  ta  bouche  estre  desclose : 

Je  ne  tiens  pas  a  cortois  homme 

Qui  orde  chose  et  lede  nomme. 
Vv.  65-70,  79-80,  of  De  Courtoisie  advise  him  not  to  talk  overmuch, 
and   when  he   does  open   his   mouth   not   to  speak   slander  or  in* 
controversy.     Vv.  30180-4  of  the  Breviari  d'Amor  warn  the  cortois 
lover  against  garrulity: 

E  si  per  lor  parlairias 

Perdol  gaug  de  lor  amias, 

Mot  grans  dretz  e  grans  rasos  es, 

Pueis  qu'elhs  so  ta  mal  cortes 

Que  lor  dona  lor  mostra  orguelh. 
Andre  le  Chapelain,  De  Amore,  p.  65,  states  that  slander  is  foreign 
to  cortoisie :     Hominnm  nulli  debet  suis  dictis  detrahere,  quia  male- 
dici  intra  curialitatis  non  possunt  limina  permanere.     The  same  idea 
is  implied  in  Li  Fablel  dou  Dieu  d' Amours,  p.  18: 

Trestout  se  teurent,  li  loussignos  parla : 

"Signour,  dist-il,  cius  ki  bien  amera, 

Ja  de  nului,  s'il  puet,  mesdira ; 

Mais  preus,  et  sages,  et  cortois  estera." 
De  Courtoisie,  vv.  234-6,  240-1,  instructs  the  cortois  not  to  swear 
at  all.     Vv.  223-233  of  De  Courtoisie  give  him  minute  directions  as- 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  25 

to  his  bearing  when  addressing  another,  and  add  that  his  speech 
should  be  without  laughter  and  without  oaths. 

The  advantages  of  speaking  cortoisement,  i.e.  as  the  cortois 
does,  are  referred  to  by  Blondel  de  Neele,  ed.  Tarbe  p.  43,  and  in 
Blancandin,  vv.  2403-6: 

Penses  de  vos  barons  amer, 

Et  de  cortoisement  parler. 

Si  ne  vous  laisseront  jamais, 

Ains  vous  tenront  la  terre  en  pais. 
The  cortois  answered  when  spoken  to.     Not  to  do  so  is  charac- 
terized in  Flamenco.,  vv.  6834-5,  as  a  lack  of  cortoisie: 

Es  cortezia  ques  estez 

Que  vos  ab  mi  ar  nom  paries? 
Ci .  Perceval,  vv.  23040-3  : 

Se  fuscies  plains  de  cortoisie, 

Quant  devant  moi  ci  trespastes 

Et  onques   .   i   .   mot  ne  parlastes, 

Ce   fu   outrages  et  orgious. 

(b)    THE  VILAIN  IS  ROUGH  IN  SPEECH. 

The  vilain,  according  to  the  ideals  of  the  mediaeval  poets,  had 
a  manner  of  speech  as  peculiarly  his  own  as  that  of  the  man  versed 
in  the  arts  of  cortoisie.  Le  Comte  de  Poitiers,  Rayn.  Choix  v,  p. 
118: 

E  que  s  guart  en  cort  de  parlar 

Vilanamens. 
Perceval,  v.  2455  : 

Et  sa  langue  fole  et  vilaine.1 
The  vilain' s  speech  was  rough  and  abusive.     Guillaume  d'Angleterre,, 
vv.  1519-22: 

Li  vilains  tot  li  reprocha 

Come  cil  qui  male  boche  a 

Et  dit  et  fet  au  pis  qu'il  puet 

Si  con  de  nature  li  muet. 
Perceval,  vv.  17961-3: 

Lors  dist  mesire  Brandelis 

Que  vilains,  mais  il  ert  maris; 

L'enfant  fil  a  putain  clama. 

'See  also  Blancandin,  v.  1471 ;  Doctrinal  le  Sauvage,  stanza  19. 


.26  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Fergus,,  vv.  478-483: 

Lors  commenche  ses  felons  dis 

Itels  con  a  vilain  convient. 

"Fius  a  putain,  dont  vos  cou  vient 

D'armes  requerre  et  demander? 

Bues  et  vaches  deves  garder 

Comme  vostre  autre  frere  font."1 
When  the  object  of  the  vilain' s  displeasure  was  not  present  to  be 
abused,  he  was  slandered  to  others.     Marie  de   France,  Lais,  Le 
Fraisne,  vv.  477-479: 

Jadis  par  ma  grant  vileinie 

de  ma  veisine  dis  folie. 

De  ses  dous  enfanz  mesparlai. 
Raimond  de  Miravals,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  358 : 

Q'uns  malapres,  vilas,  cobes,  avars, 

Outracuiatz  parliers  de  mals  parlars, 

Es  aculhitz  enans  que  nos. 
Perceval,  vv.  1974 1-2: 

Ne  dites  pas  de  lui  folie, 

Car  gou  seroit  grans  vilonie. 
Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  92-93 : 

Mes  uns  vilains  qui  grant  honte  ait, 

Pres  d'ilecques  repost  s'estoit. 


Ne  fu  mie  seus  li  gaignons, 

Aingois  avoit  a  compaignons 

Male-Bouche  le  gengleor, 

Et  avec  lui  Honte  et  Paor.2 
The  Dauphin  d'Auvergne,  Rayn.  Choix  iv,  p.  259,  extends  vilenie 
to  include  also  the  truth  spoken  of  another,  providing  it  be  of  an 
unpleasant  nature : 

L'evesques  me  dis  mal  segon  sa  fellonia, 

Et  ieu  li  port  ades  honor  e  cortesia ; 

Mas  s'ieu  dir  en  volgues  so  qu'ieu  dir  en  sabria, 

El  perdria  l'evescat  et  ieu  ma  cortesia. 

1See  also  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  pp.  95-6;  De  Florance  et  de  Blanche  Flor, 
vv.  1 1 3-9;  Claris,  vv.  26570-3;  La  Clef  d' Amors,  vv.  2649-2656. 

2See  also  Lai  d'Ignaures,  vv.  421,  424-6;  Doctrinal  le  Sauvage,  stanza  15: 
-Claris,  vv.  24362-3;  Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  33656-8;  Lai  dAristote,  Fabliaux 
v    137,  vv.  20-22. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  27 

Slander  seemed  to  the  poets  to  be  so  characteristic  of  the  vilain 
that  they  termed  it  vilenie.     I  lie  et  Galeron,  vv.  1606- 1610: 

Illes  n'ot  onques  jour  loisir 

De  dire  a  nului  vilonie 

Ne  ramprosne  ne  felonie ; 

N'ert  mie  vilains  chevaliers, 

N'apres  les  armes  malparliers. 
Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Guigemar,  vv.  7-1 1: 

Mais  quant  il  a  en  un  pais 

hume  ne  femme  de  grant  pris, 

cil  ki  de  sun  bien  unt  envie 

sovent  en  dient  vileinie, 

sun  pris  li  vuelent  abaissier. 
Lancelot,  vv.  412-413 : 

S'ot  li  chevaliers  mout  de  lui 

Vilenies  et  despiz  dire.1 
A  man  was  looked  upon  as  vilain,  not  only  when  he  slandered  others, 
but  also  when  he  allowed  another  to  be  slandered  in  his  presence 
without  remonstrance.     Perceval,  vv.  14965-7: 

Car  n'est  pas  courtois  qui  il  plaist 

O'ir  celui  ki  conte  et  dit 

Qui  de  france  dame  mesdit. 
L'Atre  Perillons,  vv.  3731-6: 

J'amai  tant  mon  segnor  Gavain, 

Ke  je  feroie  que  vilain, 

Se  je  soufroie  qu-'il  eust 

Reproce  la  u  mes  cors  fust. 

Ne  se  il  a  mort  u  a  vie 

Estoit  jetes  de  vilenie. - 
To  threaten  too  much  was  looked  upon  as  characteristic  of  the 
vilain.     Li  Fablel  dou  Dieu  d' Amours,  p.  33  : 

Sire,  fist-il,  trop  poes  manechier. 

Vilonie  est  d'omme  qui  tant  manache. 

^ee  also    Yvain,  pp.  2212-3;   Gaucelm  Faidit,   Rayn.   Choix  iii,  p.  294; 
Dolopathos,  vv.  10167-9;  Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  30102-5. 
2See  also  Gorra,  Le  Court  d'Amor,  p.  295. 


28  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

The  vilain  was  apt  to  talk  too  much.     Perceval,  vv.  4384-9: 

Que  del  casti  li  souvenoit 

Celui  ki  chevalier  le  fist, 

Ki  li  ensegna  et  aprist 

Que  de  trop  parler  se  gardast ; 

Et  crient,  se  il  le  demandast, 

Con  le  tenist  a  vilounie. 

Gaberie    (raillery,  mockery)    is  implied  to  be  characteristic  of 

the  vilain  in  the  fabliaux.     Du  Prestre  et  d' Alison,  FabL  ii  31,  vv. 

153-5: 

Fait  Alizon ;  "C'est  vilenie 

De  povre  meschine  de  vie 

Gaber,  qui  a  petit  avoir."1 


V. 

THE  CORTOIS  HAS  MESURE;  THE   VILAIN  LACKS  MESURE. 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  HAS  MESURE. 

The  troubadour  Marcabrus  defines  cortezia  as  the  observance 
of  mesura,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  373  : 

De  cortezia  s  pot  vanar 

Qui  ben  sap  mezura  gardar; 

E  qui  tot  vol  auzir  quant  es, 

Ni  tot  quant  es  cuida  amassar, 

Del  tot  Tes  ops  a  mezurar, 

O  ja  non  sera  trop  cortes. 
The  obligation  resting  upon  the  cortois  to  conduct  himself  with 
moderation  is  thus  expressed  in  De  Courtoisie,  vv.  85-88: 

Seietz  de  beau  contienement, 

Si  vous  portetz  meienement, 

Ne  trop  haut  ne  trop  bas, 

Ke  nul  ne  pusse  fere  ses  gas ! 

*See  also  Du  mantel  mautaillie,  Fabl.  iii  55,  vv.  664-5 ;  Du  vallet  qui  d'aise 
a  malaise  se  met,  Fabl.   ii  44,  vv.  39-40. 

3See  Professor  H.  R.  Lang's  note  on  page  165  of  the  Cancioneiro  Gallego- 
Castelhano,  in  which  he  quotes  from  Las  Siete  Partidas  of  Alphonse  X  of 
Castile  a  passage  in  which  mesure  is  mentioned  as  one  of  four  cardinal  virtues. 
He  also  quotes,  p.  166,  from  a  French  Doctrinal  of  1287  the  words:  Mesure 
est  precioux  tesmoing  de  san  et  de  courtoisie. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  29 

The  ideas  of  cortoisie  and  mesure  are  associated  in  the  Breviari 
■d'Amor,  v.  30588: 

E  cortes  et  amezuratz, 
and  in  L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  4997-9 : 

K'il  avoit  fait  cortois  et  sage, 

Sans  vilonnie  et  sans  outrage, 

Sans  orguel  et  sans  desmesure. 
The  earliest  example  I  have  found  of  the  application  of  the  term 
cortois  to  those  who  practice  moderation  appears  in  the  Chanson  dc 
Roland,  v.  3796  ff.  The  statement  is  made,  v.  3796,  that  Icil 
d'Alverne  i  sunt  li  plus  cartels;  the  reason,  given  in  the  lines  which 
follow,  is  that  they  counselled  moderation  in  the  treatment  of  Gane- 
lon,  because  Roland  was  dead  and  the  traitor's  punishment,  however 
severe,  could  not  bring  him  to  life.  In  Chretien's  Perceval,  vv. 
9497-9504,  Gawain's  moderate  statement  of  his  own  worth  is  char- 
acterized by  his  interlocutor  as  grant  courtoisie: 

"Dame,  dit-il,  jou  n'oseroie 

Dire  que  des  plus  prisies  soie; 

Ne  me  fac  mie  des  mellors*,£.- 

Ne  ne  quic  est  re  des  pfpuVs." 

Et  ele  li  respont:  r'"E>iaus  sire, 

Grant  courtoisiS*  vos  oc  dire 

Que  en  vous  ne  metes  le  pris 

Del  mius  ne  del  blasme  le  pis. 
In  vv.   1002-8  of  Le  Chevalier  a  I'Epee,  Gawain  is  termed  cortois 
and  resnable  because  he  exercises  self-control  under  the  influence 
of  strong  emotion : 

Quant  mes  sire  Gauvains  ce  voit, 

Sachiez  qu'il  en  fu  mout  marri 

Qu'ele  Tot  de  son  gre  guerpi ; 

Mes  tant  estoit  et  preu  et  sage, 

Et  si  cortois  et  si  resnable, 

Que  onques  mot  ne  li  sona, 

Ja  soit  ce  que  mout  li  pesa. 
The  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  33836-7,  ascribes  cortezia  to  all  who  are 
patient.     Excess  in  drink  is  warned  against  in  De  Courtoisie,  vv. 
254-9.     Contentment  with  one's  lot  is  recommended  in  vv.  242-250 
of  the  same  work.     Vv.  93-95  of  De  Courtoisie  advise  one  to  be 


3o  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

slow  to  anger  when  evil  is  spoken  of  him.     The  cortois  gained  his 
end  by  peaceful  means  when  possible;  Erec,  vv.  4414-6. 

The  cortois  is  ready  to  pardon  his  enemies  when  they  ask  for 
mercy.     Yvain,  vv.  5784-5794: 

Merci  et  pes  li  vont  requerre 

Totes  les  janz  qui  dit  li  orent 

Tant  de  honte  com  il  plus  porent, 

Si  le  vont  einsi  convoiant ; 

Et  il  dit  qu'il  n'an  set  neant. 

"Je  ne  sai,"  fet  il,  "que  vos  dites, 

Et  si  vos  an  claim  trestoz  quites ; 

Qu'onques  chose  que  j'a  mal  taingne 

Ne  deiistes,  don  moi  sovaingne." 

Cil  sont  mout  lie  de  ce  qu'il  oent 

Et  sa  corteisie  mout  loent. 
Doctrinal  Le  Sauvage,  strophe  48 : 

Et  si  soit  si  cortois  s'il  en  vient  au  deseure, 

S'on  li  crie  merci,  qu'il  pardoinst  en  pou  d'eure.1 
In  vv.  1357-62  of  Cliges,  Alixandres  is  termed  cortois  because  of 
his  merciful  treatment  of  his  prisoners.  The  quality  of  mercy  was 
a  commonplace  in  the  love  poetry  of  the  troubadours,  and  in  the 
following  passages  is  mentioned  together  with  cortezia.  Arnaud  de 
Marueil,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  212: 

E  doncs,  domna,  valha  m  vostre  secors, 

E  vensa  vos  merces  e  cortezia. 
La  Comtesse  de  Die,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  22 : 

Quar  ieu  l'am  mais  que  nulha  res  que  sia: 

Vas  lui  no  m  val  merces  ni  cortezia. 

(b)    THE   VILAIN  LACKS  MESURE. 

In  two  passages  the  vilain's  lack  of  moderation  is  referred  to 
as  demesure.  Erec,  vv.  1793-5,  places  vilenie  and  desmesure  in  the 
same  category : 

Je  suis  rois,  ne  doi  pas  mantir, 

Ne  vilenie  consantir, 

Ne  faussete  ne  desmesure. 

^ee  also  Perceval,  vv.  41057-60;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  35,  vv.  19-20. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  31 

A  similar  association  of  ideas  is  found  in  the  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv. 
32162-6 : 

E  devon  esser  llramador 

Ardit  en  gardar  lor  onor 

Ab  razo  e  ab  drechura 

Contra  eels  c'ap  demezura 

Lor  fan  mal  o  vilania. 
A  more  usual  adjective  descriptive  of  one  who  lacks  me  sure  is  the 
French  outrageus.     Chretien  de  Troies  in  Erec,  vv.  240-1,  employs 
this  adjective  with  vilains-. 

Le  Chevalier  arme  dotoie, 

Qui  vilains  est  et  outrageus. 
L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  5397-8,  places  the  terms  outrage  and  vilenie 
in   the   same   category   as   synonyms.     V.   9685    of   Perceval   asso- 
ciates the  ideas  of  violence  and  vilenie. 

Mention  of  the  vilain' s  lack  of  mesure  in  specific  ways  is  occa- 
sionally met  with.  V.  12706  of  Claris  et  Laris  attributes  envy  to 
the  vilain.  The  vilain  figures  extensively  as  the  jealous  husband  in 
the  chansons  de  toile.     Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  48,  v.  29: 

vilain  plain  de  jalosie. 
Ibid.,  i  25,  vv.  3-6: 

Kant  li  vilains  vaint  a  marchiet, 

il  n'i  vait  pas  por  berguignier, 

mais  por  sa  feme  a  esgaitier, 

que  nuns  ne  li  forvoie.1 
There  is,  of  course,  another  type  of  desmesure,  that  which  ap- 
pears in  the  Chanson  de  Roland  and  recalls  the  Homeric  <T/?pis. 
It  is  clear  that  the  kind  of  desmesure  with  which  we  are  here  con- 
cerned is  quite  different  from  that  which  prompted  Roland  to  refuse 
to  sound  his  horn  and  thus  brought  him  to  his  tragic  end.2 

VI. 

THE  CORTOIS   IS   HUMBLE;   THE   VILAIN   IS   UNDULY   PROUD. 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  HUMBLE. 

De  Conrtoisie,  vv.  19-22,  35-6,  directs  those  who  would  be 
cortois  to  forsake  pride  and  learn  to  be  humble: 

*See  also  ibid.,  i  48,  vv.  17-19;  i  67,  vv.  3-6  and  17. 

2Cf.  Gaston  Paris,  Extraits  de  la  Chanson  de  Roland,  note  26  on  p.  75. 


32  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Mes  james  a  vostre  voil 

Ne  vous  lessetz  veintre  orgoil ! 

Cil  q'est  orgoillous, 

II  quide  tantost  crestre  tous, 


Lessetz  cele  vice  ester, 

Si  apernetz  de  vous  humilier! 
Vv.  172-7  of  De  Court oisie  advise  against  self-praise.     Vv.  955-9 
of  L'Atre  Perillous  refer  to  a  cor  tots  knight  who  in  spite  of  his 
excellence  was  not  over-proud : 

Bien  doit  tout  le  monde  plorer, 

Car  el  monde  n'avoit  son  per 

De  largesce  et  de  cortoisie, 

Et  por  sa  grant  cevalerie 

N'astoit  il  nient  plus  orgellox. 
The  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  30971-6,  implies  the  humility  of  the 
cortois  when  it  says  that  it  is  greater  cortezia  for  one's  praise  to 
be  spread  abroad  by  another  than  by  oneself.  Vv.  32312-3  of  the 
Breviari  d'Amor  state  that  humility  exalts  the  humble  and  the 
cortois,  i.e.  makes  them  more  cortois.  V.  19  of  the  fablel  De  la 
Bourgeoise  d'Orliens,  Fabliaux  i  8,  states  that  a  certain  clerc  had 
the  reputation  of  being  a  very  cortois  fellow,  and  the  first  words 
of  v.  20  give  as  one  reason  that  he  N'ert  plains  d'orguel.  N'Uc 
Brunet  de  Rodes,  quoted  in  the  Breviari  d'Amor,  v.  31681,  asso- 
ciates humility  with  cortoisie  in  the  injunction,  Sias  humils  e  cortes. 
The  Roman  de  la  Rose  ii  p.  254  furnishes  another  example  of 
such  association : 

Quiconques  tent  a  gentillece. 


Humble  cuer  ait,  cortois  et  gent. 
On  the  other  hand,  vv.  11 126-32  of  Perceval,  referring  to  Gawain, 
are  evidence  that  cortoisie  did  not  preclude  a  proper  pride  when 
dealing  with  the  haughty : 

Et  pour  chou  si  croissoit  ses  pris, 

Moult  cremoit  toustans  vilonie, 

Vers  home  plain  de  felonie 

Et  renconier  et  orguellous 

Estoit  moult  fiers  et  coragous  ; 

Envers  frans  homes,  pius  et  dous ; 

Contre  orguelleus,  fiers  et  estous. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  33 

(b)    THE  VILAIN  IS  UNDULY  PROUD. 

In  v.  30974  of  the  Breziari  d'Amor,  referred  to  above,  the  word 
vilania  is  used  in  the  sense  of  vanity,  vain  pride.  Of  indirect  evi- 
dence I  can  quote  two  examples.  V.  3130  of  the  following  passage 
from  L'Atre  Perillous  (vv.  3126-31)  associates  haughtiness  with 
vilenie : 

Et  la  damoisele  me  dist 

Moult  doucement  au  departir, 

Ke  se  je  voloie  joir 

De  li,  ne  de  sa  druerie, 

Que  d'orguel  et  de  vilonnie 

Me  gardaisce  et  de  sorfait. 
V.  4847  of  L'Atre  Perillous  presents  the  same  association : 

N'a  orguel  ni  a  vilonie. 


VII. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS  CONSIDERATE  OF  OTHERS,  IS  KIND  AND  HOSPITABLE; 
THE  VILAIN  IS  NOT  CONSIDERATE  OF  OTHERS,  IS  CRUEL  AND 
INHOSPITABLE. 

(a)    THE      CORTOIS      IS      CONSIDERATE      OF      OTHERS,      IS      KIND      AND 

HOSPITABLE. 

Vv.    1847-8  of  Erec  tell  how  the   cor  tots  knight  considerately 
thought  of  his  host: 

Erec  come  cortois  et  frans 

Fu  de  son  povre  oste  an  espans. 
Vv.  6198-6206  of  the  same  poem  narrate  a  considerate  act  on  the 
part  of  Enide: 

Mout  fist  Enide  que  cortoise : 

Por  ce  que  pansive  la  vit 

Et  sole  seoir  sor  le  lit, 

Li  prist  talanz  que  ele  iroit 

A  li  parler,  si  li  diroit 

De  son  afeire  et  de  son  estre, 

Et  anquerroit,  s'il  pooit  estre, 

Qu'ele  del  suen  li  redeist, 

Mes  que  trop  ne  li  desseist. 
Vv.  3060-3  of  Yvain  tell  how  the  maiden  who  has  anointed  Yvain 
and  thus  restored  him  to  his  senses  was  careful  not  to  startle  him 
in  his  bewildered  condition  by  revealing  her  identity.     This  con- 


34  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

sideration  is  termed  by  Chretien  san  et  corteisie.  Vv.  9325-33  of 
Perceval  speak  of  an  act  of  consideration  on  the  part  of  Gawain's 
hostess,  whose  thoughtfulness  is  that  of  one  qui  riest  pas  wyde  de 
courtoisie  ne  de  sens: 

Et  dist :     "Ma  dame  vos  envoie 

A  viestir,  ains  qu'  ele  vos  voie, 

Ceste  reube,  car  ele  quide 

Come  cele  qui  n'est  pas  wyde 

De  courtoisie  ne  de  sens, 

Que  grans  travaus  et  grans  aliens 

Et  grans  anuis  eus  aves ; 

Assayes-le,  si  le  vestes, 

S'ele  est  boine  a  vostre  mesure.  .  .  " 
Vv.  7560-8  of  Flamenca  describe  the  quiet  manner  in  which 
En  Archimbautz  entered  the  room  where  his  guests  were  assembled. 
"And  this,"  the  author  states,  "he  did  through  cortesia,  being  un- 
willing that  the  whole  court  should  rise  every  time  he  came  in  or 
went  out."  Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  26,  tells  how  Cortoisie  sees 
the  Lover  standing  near  and  invites  him  to  join  the  dance: 

"Biaus  amis,  que  faites-vous  la? 

Fait  Cortoisie,  ca  venez, 

Et  avecques  nous  vous  prenez 

A  la  karole,  s'il  vous  plest." 
The  Lover's  gratitude  to  Cortoisie  for  her  act  of  consideration  is 
thus  expressed  (loc.  cit.)  : 

Et  sachies  que  moult  m'agrea 

Quant  Cortoisie  m'en  pria, 

Et  me  dist  que  je  karolasse ; 

Car  de  karoler,  se  j'osasse, 

Estoie  envieus  et  sorpris. 
The  fablel  Le  Frere  Denis e  relates  how  a  maiden  has  been  duped 
by  a  Franciscan  and  taken  into  his  order  (hence  the  title),  but  is 
rescued  by  a  lady,  who  gives  her  some  of  her  own  fine  clothes  and 
arranges  a  match  between  her  and  a  knight.  Vv.  308-313  {Fab- 
liaux iii  87)  tell  how  unobtrusively,  and  therefore  cortoisement, 
she  accomplishes  her  act  of  kindness : 

Ele  meismes  de  sa  main 

La  vest,  ansois  qu'ele  couchast, 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  35 

Ne  sofTrist  qu'autres  i  touchast, 
Car  priveement  voloit  faire 
Et  cortoisement  son  afaire; 
Car  sage  dame  et  cortoize  ere. 
The  maiden  who  took  her  mantle  and  groomed  Perceval's  horse 
is  termed  f ranee  et  cortoise  for  her  kindness ;  Perceval,  w.  33998- 

34005 : 

La  damoisele  plus  ne  dist, 

Ains  est  alee,  sans  targier, 

Jusques  devant  le  bon  diestrier 

Qui  atacies-  ert  a  l'aniel ; 

Si  le  commence,  a  son  mantiel, 

A  planiier  et  col  et  tieste, 

Si  li  fait  mervellouse  fieste, 

Que  elle  estoit  france  et  cortoise. 
A  special  kind  of  consideration  is  cortois  hospitality,  mentioned 
often  in  mediaeval  texts.  In  vv.  985-8  of  Thebes  we  read  that  King 
Adrastus,  "who  was  not  vilains  in  the  least,"  showed  his  hospitality 
to  his  guests,  Polynices  and  Tydeiis,  by  allowing  them  to  converse 
with  his  beautiful  daughters : 

Ne  f  u  mie  vilains  li  reis : 

De  ses  filles  ne  fist  defeis 

Que  n'i  parolent  li  danzel ; 

Pas  ne  Ten  peise,  ainz  Ten  est  bel. 
In  vv.  561-9  of  Yvain,  Calogrenant  tells  how  he  returned  to  his 
hostel,  the  fortress  in  which  he  had  been  received  as  a  guest  the 
night  before,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had  been  vanquished 
in  a  fight  and  was  coming  back  without  horse  and  without  armor 
.his  cortois  host  received  him  as  hospitably  as  before : 

Quant  je  ving  la  nuit  a  l'ostel, 

Trovai  mon  oste  tot  autel, 

Aussi  lie  et  aussi  cortois, 

Come  j'avoie  fet  einqois. 

Onques  de  rien  ne  m'aparcui 

Ne  de  sa  fille  ne  de  lui 

Que  mains  volantiers  me  veissent 

Ne  que  mains  d'enor  me  fe'issent 

Qu'il  avoient  fet  Fautre  nuit. 


36  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

In  vv.  4593-8  of  Yvain  the  speaker  tells  Yvain  that  no  cortoise  lady- 
would  refuse  hospitality  to  a  man  of  his  worth  unless  he  had  done 
her  great  wrong: 

"Certes,"  fet  ele,  "ce  me  poise. 

Ne  taing  mie  por  tres  cortoise 

La  dame  qui  mal  cuer  vos  porte. 

Ne  delist  pas  veer  sa  porte 

A  chevalier  de  vostre  pris 

Se  trop  n'eust  vers  li  mespris." 
In  vv.  2762-7  of  Perceval  we  read  that   Perceval's   cortois  hosts 
urge  upon  him  their  hospitality  for  a  month  or  a  year : 

Quant  leve  furent  de  la  table, 

Li  preudom,  ki  moult  fu  cortois, 

Pria  de  remanoir  .  i .  mois 

Le  varlet  ki  deles  lui  sist ; 

.  i .  an  tout  plain,  se  il  vosist, 

Le  retenist-il  volentiers. 
From  vv.  3279-87  of  Perceval  we  may  infer  that  it  was  looked  upon 
as  an  act  of  cortoisie  to  speed  the  departing  guest : 

Vous  en  ires,  pas  ne  m'en  poise, 

Que  ne  seroie  pas  cortoise 

S'il  me  pesoit  de  nule  rien ; 

Que  poi  d'onor  et  poi  de  bien 

Nos  vos  avommes  caiens  fait; 

Et  je  pri  Dieu  que  il  vous  ait 

Aparellie  mellor  ostel, 

U  plus  ait  pain  et  vin  et  sel 

Et  autre  bien  que  en  cestui.1 


(b)    THE    VILAIN    IS    NOT    CONSIDERATE    OF    OTHERS,     IS    CRUEL    AND 

INHOSPITABLE. 

A  lack  of  consideration  for  others  on  the  part  of  the  vilain  is 
implied  in  vv.  442-7  of  Du  mantel  mautaillie,  Fabliaux  iii  55 : 

Additional  passages  illustrating  the  hospitality  of  the  cortois  are  as 
follows:  Le  Bel  Inconnu,  vv.  4032-8;  Le  Chevalier  a  'IRpee,  vv.  134-142; 
Perceval,  vv.  2727-30,  2743-52,  7102-5,  28955-9,  28970-5,  36527-31,  36649-54; 
Blancandin,  vv.  1227-30. 


C0RT01S  AND  VILAIN.  37 

"Sire,"  fet  il,  "il  m'est  avis 

Que  nous  sommes  tuit  molt  vilain ; 

L'amie  mon  seignor  Gavain, 

Venelaus  la  preus,  la  cortoise, 

A  mon  seignor  Gavain  en  poise 

De  ce  que  trop  est  oubliee." 
In  vv.  492-6  of  Tristan,  ii  p.  24,  the  Celtic  hero  is  represented  as 
thinking  that  he  is  acting  vileinement,  i.e.   as  a  vilain  would,  in 
departing  without  finding  out  what  has  become  of  Queen  Ysolt 
and  Brengien : 

Tristan  se  prent  a  purpenser 

Que  il  s'en  vait  vileinement 

Quant  ne  set  ne  quar  ne  coment 

A  la  reine  Ysolt  estoit 

Ne  que  Brengien  la  fraunche  fait. 
Vv.   1523-32  of  Guillaume  d'Angleterre  relate  how  li  vilains  (cf. 
v.  1 5 19)  unconsciously  does  an  act  of  kindness,  but  the  poet  denies 
him  credit  for  it,  saying  that  his  intentions  were  bad : 

Et  neporquant  de  tant  bien  fist, 

Sanz  ce  que  garde  ne  s'an  prist 

N'a  bien  feire  n'i  antandi, 

Que  a  l'anfant  le  pan  randi, 

Ou  anvelope  le  trova. 

Einsi  bien  et  mal  se  prova : 

Mai  fist  selonc  s'antancjon, 

Qu'il  n'i  antandi  se  mal  non, 

Et  bien  por  ce  qu'a  l'anfant  plot; 

Einsi  fist  bien  et  si  nel  sot. 
The  cruelty  of  the  vilain  is  often  insisted  upon  by  the  mediaeval 
poets.     Thebes  dwells  upon  this  characteristic  in  vv.  5563-9 : 

Mais  li  sergent  sor  lui  s'airent, 

De  totes  parz  fort  le  detirent : 

Entre  vilains  fait  mal  chaeir; 

De  rien  qu'il  puissent  sorpoeir 

N'avront  ja  merci  li  vilain. 

Le  chevalier  ne  pristrent  sain : 

Piece  a  piece  le  detrenchierent. 

Guillaume    d'Angleterre   in   two    passages    gives    instances    of   the 
vilain' s  lack  of  humanity.     Vv.  1466-77 : 


38  C0RT01S  AND  VILAIN. 

Einsi  li  anfant  anbedui 

Se  deffandent,  et  li  vilain, 

Qui  mout  se  travaillent  an  vain, 

A  terre  anbedeus  les  abatent 

Et  des  poinz  et  des  piez  les  batent 

Chascuns  le  suen  a  son  ostel. 

Ains  li  anfant  ne  furent  tel 

Que  breire  osassent  ne  crier. 

L'an  ne  se  doit  mie  fier 

An  vilain,  puis  que  il  s'aorse. 

Ne  plus  que  an  ors  ou  an  orse : 

Vilains  iriez  est  vis  maufez. 
Ibid.,  vv.  1494-7: 

Quant  Marins  6i  le  reproche, 

Grant  honte  an  ot  et  grant  angoisse. 

Et  li  vilains  le  bat  et  roisse 

Come  fel  et  de  put  afreire. 
In  vv.  17985-9  of  Perceval  the  speaker  refers  to  the  killing  of  inno- 
cent children  as  vilonie: 

Lors  a  dist :     "Sire  Brandelis, 

Moult  est  biaus  cis  enfes  petis, 

Onques  mais  si  grant  vilonie 

Ne  fesistes  en  vostre  vie 

De  si  tres  biel  enfant  tuer.1 
Parallels  of  this  usage  of  the  old  French  poets  are  found  in  the 
works  of  Dante,  who  in  three  passages  in  the  Vita  Nuova  refers 
to  death  as  villana  because  of  its  cruelty.     Cap.  viii  21-22: 

perche  villana  morte  in  gentil  core 

ha  messo  il  suo  crudele  adoperare. 
Cap.  viii  39-42: 

Morte  villana,  di  pieta  nemica, 

di  dolor  madre  antica, 

giudicio  incontrastabile,  gravoso, 

poi  che  hai  data  matera  al  cor  doglioso. 
Cap.  xxiii  52-53:     Dolcissima  morte,  vieni  a  me,  e  non  m'essere 
villana;  in  this  case  the  grounds  for  calling  death  cruel  are  the 

aSee  also  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Laustic,  vv.  114-6;  Perceval,  vv.  6820-4; 
Tristan,  i  p.  45 ;  Claris,  vv.  14023-7 ;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  iii  34,  vv.  19-25. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  39 

opposite  of  those  in  the  two  preceding  examples.  Giacomino  Pul- 
gliese  addresses  death  in  a  similar  manner.  D'Ancona  e  Comparetti, 
Antic  he  Rime,  i  p.  379: 

Villana  Morte,  che  non  a'  pietanza, 

Disparti  Amore  e  tolgli  l'alegranza, 

E  dai  cordolglio. 

The  inhospitality  of  the  vilain  is  implied  in  the  use  of  the  ad- 
jective vilains  in  a  passage  in  Perceval,  vv.  1653 1-7: 

"Par  trestous  sains,  qou  a  dit  Kex, 

Voire,  mais  ausi  m'a'it  Dex, 

II  ne  tient  pas  .  iii .  nois  de  nous ; 

C'est  .1.  chevaliers  orguellous 

Qui  ne  nous  herbergera  mie 

Pour  nule  rien  que  on  li  die." 

Li  rois  dist :     "Dont  est  moult  vilains  ;   .    .    .   " 
A  similar  inference  may  be  drawn  from  vv.  5632-5  of  UEscouile, 
in  which  the  chatelaine  of  Montpellier  regrets  her  lack  of  hospitality 
to  Aelis  and  Ysabiaus : 

Fait  la  dame :     "Mout  ai  este 

Vers  vos  vilaine  et  desseiie, 

Ki  pres  de  moi  vos  ai  seiie, 

Et  si  ne  vos  ai  acointie   ..." 
The  lack  of  proper  care  for  and  protection  of  a  guest  is  termed 
vilenie  in  L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  3982-4: 

Et  ce  sera  grans  vilenie, 

Quant  je  sui  ci  en  vostre  garde, 

Se  g'i  muir  par  vostre  mesgarde. 
The  vilain's  lack  of  regard  for  the  laws  of  hospitality  is  shown  in 
vv.    17076-81   of  Perceval,   where  ungracious  refusal   of   proffered 
entertainment  is  implied  on  his  part: 

Mais  n'est  pas  si  vilains,  je  croi, 

Qu'il  s'en  alast  tant  que  mi  frere 

Fuscent  venu  et  li  miens  pere ; 

Car,  s'il  estoient  repairie, 

II  l'aroient  tost  herbergie; 

Car  plains  sont  de  toutes  bontes. 


4o  C0RT0IS  AND  VI LAIN. 

VIII. 

THE     C0RT0IS     IS     ALWAYS     READY     TO     HELP     OTHERS;     THE     VILAIN 
REFUSES  TO   HELP  OTHERS. 

(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  ALWAYS   READY   TO   HELP   OTHERS. 

The  quality  of  helpfulness  in  the  cortois  is  defined  in  the  Roman 
de  la  Rose,  i  p.  107,  as  giving  assistance  to  one  who  is  in  less  fortu- 
nate circumstances  than  oneself: 

Cortoisie  est  que  Ten  sequeure 
Celi  dont  Ten  est  au  desseure. 

An  illustration  of  this  definition  is  found  in  the  same  poem,  i  p.  91, 
where  the  speaker  tells  how  Bel-Acueil,  the  son  of  Cortoisie,  allows 
him  to  pass  the  hedge  into  the  garden  where  grows  the  coveted  rose : 

Bel-Acueil  se  faisoit  clamer, 

Filz  fu  Cortoisie  la  sage, 

Cis  m'abandonna  le  passage 

De  la  haie  moult  doucement, 

Et  me  dist  amiablement: 

"Baius  amis  chiers,  se  il  vous  plest, 

Passes  la  haie  sans  arrest." 

Ibid.,  i  p.  137,  the  act  just  mentioned  is  referred  to  as  grant  cor- 
toisie. Esperance  is  termed  cortoise,  ibid.,  i  p.  86,  because  she 
sustains  even  a  thief  until  the  end.  In  vv.  2279-2281  of  Thebes 
we  are  told  that  Tydeus  brought  certain  persons  to  her  que  pas  n'ert 
vilaine  {i.e.,  ert  cortoise),  and  the  reason  she  is  thus  characterized 
is  given  in  the  words  (v.  2281),  Que  por  eus  s'ert  tant  traveilliee. 
In  vv.  6504-9  of  Lancelot  the  hero  complains  that  the  absent  Gawain 
lacks  cortoisie  because  he  is  not  there  to  help  him.  Vv.  5430-4  of 
Yvain  speak  of  the  readiness  to  serve  shown  by  a  cortoise  maiden : 

De  lui  servir  tant  s'antremet 
Qu'il  an  a  honte  et  si  Tan  poise. 
Mes  la  pucele  est  tant  cortoise 
Et  tant  franche  et  tant  deboneire 
Qu'  ancor  an  cuide  ele  po  feire.1 

xSee  also  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Guigemar,  vv.  460-4;  L'Atre  Perillous, 
w.  5363-71;  ibid.,  vv.  6320-31;  Flamenca,  vv.  2025-6;  Hugues  Capet,  vv. 
334^-3. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  41 

(b)    THE  VILAIN  REFUSES  TO   HELP  OTHERS. 

The  cortois  man  was  ever  ready  to  offer  his  services  when  they 
were  needed  by  another,  but  the  vilain  is  represented  by  the  mediaeval 
poets  as  refusing  his  aid  to  others.  Thus  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i 
p.  68,  characterizes  the  vilain  as  without  pity  and  unwilling  to  be 
of  service  to  his  friends : 

Vilains  est  fel  et  sans  pitie, 

Sans  servise  et  sans  amitie. 
Another  passage  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose  (i  p.  40)  states  that 
Franchise  was  so  gentle-hearted  that  she  would  think  she  was  com- 
mitting an  act  of  great  vilonie  {i.e.  the  act  of  a  vilaine)  is  she  were 
not  to  aid  one  who  came  to  grief  on  her  account.  Vv.  3878-81  of 
L'Atre  Perillous  term  a  knight  vilain  who  would  not  aid  another 
in  his  time  of  need: 

Moult  est  le  chevalier  vilain 

Et  outragex,  qui  autre  voit 

D'amor  de  si  tres  grant  destroit, 

Si  nel  secort  a  grant  besoing. 
Vv.  44-48  of  the  fablel  De  Guillaume  au  faucon,  Fabl.  ii  35,  charac- 
terize as  vileine  a  woman  who  would  not  grant  her  distressed  lover 
solace.     Flamenca,   vv.   5347-9,   states  that  no   cortois  man   would 
leave  a  girl  to  her  fate  without  assisting  her : 

Tort  n'auran,  si  cortes  s'en  feinon, 

C'aital  dompna  paura  estraina 

Laisson  murir. 


IX. 

THE    CORTOIS    IS    GOOD,    JUST,    LOYAL;    THE    VILAIN    IS    BAD,    UNJUST, 
UNTRUSTWORTHY. 

(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  GOOD,  JUST,  LOYAL. 

The  code  of  ethics  of  the  cortois  as  portrayed  in  mediaeval  French 
and  Provengal  poetry  is  a  much  higher  one  than  that  of  the  vilain, 
although  it  is  not  an  altogether  rigid  one.  The  didactic  poem  De 
Conrtoisic  instructs  those  who  would  be  cortois  to  do  good ;  v.  90 : 

Lessetz  las  mauls,  fetes  le  bien. 
The  association  of  doing  good  with  cortoisie  is  met  in  vv.  1 1394-5 
of  Perceval,  where  it  is  said  that  King  Arthur  loved  cortoisie  as 


42  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

no  one  else  did,  and  also  applied  his  heart  to  good.     Giraud  le  Roux, 
Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  10,  associates  cortezia  with  fear  of  evil : 

Ara  sabrai  s'a  ges  de  cortezia 

En  vos,  dona,  ni  si  temetz  peccat. 
Jacques  de  Cambrai,  Wackernagel  p.  68,  associates  all  good  qualities 
with  cortoisie: 

Dame,  tous  biens  et  toute  cortoisie 

est  dedens  vos 1 

The  justice  and  upright  dealing  of  the  cortois  are  the  theme  of 
certain  other  passages.  In  vv.  5954-8  of  Yvain  a  maiden  says  that 
her  sister  would  be  doing  cortoisie  if  she  were  to  restore  the  property 
out  of  which  she  had  defrauded  her : 

Or  feroit  corteisie  et  bien 

Ma  dame,  ma  tres  chiere  suer, 

Que  j'aim  autant  come  mon  cuer, 

S'ele  de  mon  droit  me  leissoit 

Tant  qu'antre  moi  et  li  pes  soit. 
In  vv.  25488-91  of  Perceval,  Perceval's  opponent  calls  him  cortois 
for  having  thrown  his  own  sword  to  the  ground  as  soon  as  he  saw 
that  his  adversary  was  disarmed  and  suggesting  that  they  finish  the 
combat  with  their  fists : 

Li  chevaliers  dist:     "Je  ne  sa-i 

Se  cou  est  savoirs  u  folie, 

Que  vostre  espee  aves  guerpie ; 

Mais  moult  estes  preus  et  cortois. 
Observance  of  that  law  of  fair  combat  which  prescribed  that  the 
arms  of  both  contestants  should  be  equal  is  termed  cortoisie  in  Le 
Chevalier  a  VEpee,  w.  928-933.     Gawain,  addressing  a  knight  who 
has  attacked  him,  says : 

Vos  veez  mout  bien  que  je  n'ai 

Fors  sol  ma  lance  et  mon  escu 

Et  lou  branc  au  coste  pendu. 

Je  vos  conment  a  desarmer 

Tant  que  nos  soions  per  a  per, 

Si  ferez  mout  grant  cortoisie. 

*A  similar  association  of  ideas  is  found  in  the  following  passages:  Le 
Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  29559-60;  Bertrand  d'Allamanon  Ier,  Rayn.  Choix  v, 
p.  71 ;  Flamenca,  v.  6483 ;  CUges,  vv.  5855-7. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  43 

From  vv.  3356-7  of  L'Atre  Perillous  we  infer  that  the  cortois  keeps 
his  plighted  word: 

Ains  li  tenes  son  convenant ; 

Si  feres  bien  et  que  cortois. 
To  render  another  what  belongs  to  him  by  the  laws  of  chivalry  is 
cortoisie.     Blancandin,  vv.  304-5,  309-10: 

Ele  est  au  chevalier  amie 

Que  j'ai  ga  derriere  laissie. 


Frans  chevaliers,  par  cortoisie 
Rendes  au  chevalier  s'amie. 


Less  direct  evidence  to  the  same  effect  is  found  in  passages  in 
which  the  ideas  of  cortoisie  and  justice,  fairness,  are  associated.     In 
vv.  41 135-6  of  Perceval  the  adjective  vrad  is  used  with  cortois: 
A  li  respont :     "Sire,  ami  ai, 
Preu  et  cortois  et  sage  et  vrai,   .    .    .   " 
V.  3 181  of  L'Atre  Perillous  associates  the  adjective  hotter  able  with 
cortois : 

D'estre  cortois  et  honerable.1 

The  loyalty  of  the  cortois  is  implied  in  vv.  4084-5  of  UAtre 
Perillous,  where  cortoisie  and  loiaute  are  associated : 

On  aime  le  cors  quant  u  cuer 

A  cortoisie  et  loiaute. 
A  similar  association  of  ideas  is  met  in  Lancelot,  vv.  3354-5  • 

Mout  me  troveroiz  deboneire 

Vers  vos  et  leal  et  cortois. 
A  practical  instance  of  loyalty  on  the  part  of  a  cortois  person  is 
found  in  the  Romans  de  un  ckivaler,  etc.,  Fabliaux  ii  50,  vv.  262-9, 
where  a  maid  is  represented  as  conveying  a  message  of  love  from 
a  clerc  to  her  mistress,  although  in  doing  so  she  is  performing  a 
service  for  her  successful,  if  unwitting,  rival  in  his  affections : 

Or  saveit  ele  bien  de  veir 

Ke  failli  avoit  de  sun  espeir, 

*Honor  and  cortoisie  are  associated  also  in  the  following  passages:  L'Atre 
Perillous,  v.  5964;  Perceval,  vv.  41131-3;  Blancandin,  vv.  2644-6;  Du  Bouchier 
d'Abezille,  Fabliaux  iii  84,  vv.  142-3;  Lamberti  de  Bonanel,  ou  de  Bttvarel, 
Rayn.  Choix  v,  p.  243 ;  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Milun,  v.  332. 


44  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Mes  tant  fist  ele  de  corteisie 

Ke  son  message  ne  cela  mie.  , 

Dist  a  la  dame  le  grant  dolur 

Ke  li  clerk  suffri  pur  s'amur ; 

Requist  k'ele  eust  de  li  pite, 

Alast  le  ver,  pur  l'amur  De. 

Three  passages  form  exceptions  to  the  general  rule  for  the  up- 
rightness of  the  cortois.  Chretien  de  Troies  in  Erec,  vv.  3642-3, 
implies  that  a  lady  may  be  cortoise  and  at  the  same  time  deceitful: 

Mout  est  preuz  et  sage  et  cortoise 

La  dame  qui  deceu  m'a. 
An  implication  of  similar  nature  is  found  in  two  verses  by  Guillaume 
de  Saint-Didier,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  300: 

Ab  son  cuiar,  o  ab  mentir  cortes 

Me  tengra  quay  tos  temps,  s'a  lieys  plagues. 
Vv.  yij-22,  737-8  of  La  Clef  d' Amors  indicate  that  its  author  did 
not  consider  the  fulfilment  of  a  cortois  promise  necessary: 

Pramet  li  assez  de  pramesses, 

grosses  et  grandes  et  espesses : 

de  bone  hore  fu  mis  a  letre 

qui  cortoisement  soit  prametre. 

Assez  prametre  petit  grieve, 

et  si  sort  le  courage  et  lieve. 


Mes,  quelz  pramesses  que  tu  faches, 
garde  bien  que  ne  les  perfaches. 

(b)    THE   VILAIN  IS   BAD,   UNJUST,   UNTRUSTWORTHY. 

Although  the  blemish  of  untruthfulness  was  permitted  in  the 
cortois,  his  general'  character  was  infinitely  above  that  of  the  zilain 
as  portrayed  by  the  mediceval  poets.  The  vilain's  thoroughly  evil 
reputation  in  courtly  circles  is  attested  by  v.  165  of  Le  Lai  de 
I'Oiselet : 

Et  li  vilain  sont  li  mauvais, 
and  by  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i.  48,  vv.  15-16: 

james  n'amera  vilain, 

car  trop  sont  mauves. 
In  vv.  6771-5  of  Flamenca,  mals  aips  (evil  character)  is  put  in  the 
same  category  with  inlania,  and  is  opposed  to  cortesia : 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  45 

De  sempre  li  a  tot  comdat 

Flamenca  con  es  avengut 

D'En  Archimbaut  ques  a  perdut 

Sos  mals  aips  e  sa  vilania 

Et  a  cobrada  cortesia.1 
A  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  vilain  to  break  his  word  is  implied 
in  three   passages   in  which   failure  to  keep  a  promise   is   termed 
vilenie;  vv.  2209-10  of  Perceval,  giving  King  Arthur's  words : 

Vilonie  est  d'autrui  gaber 

Et  de  prometre  sans  doner ; 
De  Courtoisie,  vv.  150-5: 

E  pur  deu  gardetz  vous  ent  bien, 

Ke  vous  ne  promettez  rien, 

Si  vous  ne  voilletz  doner; 

Kar  ceo  fet  le  fol  conforter ! 

Et  ore  ne  lerra,  ke  nel  vous  die, 

Certes  ceo  est  grant  vileinie; 
Le  Chevalier  a  I'Epee,  vv.    1074-5,  quoting  Gawain's  words  to  a 
knight  who  has  broken  his  word : 

Et  Gauvains  dist :     "C'est  vilenie 

Se  vos  en  desdites  ensi. 
Vv.  6768-9  of  Yvain  refer  to  parjurer  as  vilainne  chose.     The  ideas 
of  deception  and  vilenie  are  associated  in  v.  2&JJJ  of  Le  Breviari 
d'Amor : 

O  enguan  o  vilania. 
A  similar  association  of  ideas  is  found  in  Erec,  vv.  1793-5  : 

Je  sui  rois,  ne  doi  pas  mantir, 

Ne  vilenie  consantir, 

Ne  faussete  ne  desmesure. 
Bernard  de  Ventadour,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  75,  declares  that  cortezia 
is  vilana  in  that  it  may  give  a  false  appearance  of  friendship: 

Cortezia  es  mout  vilana, 

Quar  aquesta  falsa  gens  vana 

Fai  conoisser  semblansa  d'amistatz. 
The  injustice   of  the  vilain  is   implied  in  the   following  cases. 
Vv.  2617-20  of  Blancandin  represent  the  hero  of  the  poem  as  re- 

1See  also  Erec,  v.  2422;  Fabliaux   v  137,  vv.  194-7;  Doctrinal  le  Sauvage, 
strophe  57. 


46  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

gretting  his  lost  love,  Orgilleuse,  and  inveighing  against  the  injustice 
of  the  God  of  Love,  whom  he  term  vilains : 

Trop  est  li  diex  d'amors  vilains, 

Quant  si  a  fait  foellir  ces  rains. 

A  tort  sunt  cil  arbre  flouri, 

Puisque  nos  somes  departi. 
Vv.  592-4  of  L'Atre  Perillous  criticise  the  injustice  of  vilaine  death 
in  taking  the  good  and  leaving  the  evil : 

Ahi  mors  !  tant  par  es  vilaine, 

Qui  les  bons  prens  tout  a  eslais, 

Et  laisces  vivre  les  mauvais ! 
A  passage  of  similar  sentiment  is  found  in  L'Escouile,  vv.  2414-9: 

N'est  pas  encor  la  mors  trop  ivre 

Ki  velt  prenre  si  fait  baron, 

Ains  velt  faire  grant  mesprison ; 

Si  fait  ele,  et  grant  vilenie, 

Quant  ele  ensi  prent  et  lanie 

.  I .  preudome  conme  .  j .  mauvais. 
The  dishonesty  of  the  vilain  is  mentioned  in  several  passages. 
Vv.  23-6  of  the  Dit  sur  les  Vilains  declare  that  the  vilain  steals  as 
much  from  his  lord  as  the  latter  gives  him : 

Se  tu  che  fa  lo  vilan 

Al  so  signor  chi  e  plan  ? 

El  no  gie  daria  mai  tanto 

Ch'el  no  toge  altretanto. 
In  vv.  1983-7  of  Perceval  the1  maiden  whom  Perceval  found  in  the 
tent  complains  of  his  thefts,  calling  him  vilain : 

Mais  .  i .  vallet  galois  i  ot, 

Anieus  et  vilain  et  sot, 

Qui  a  de  vostre  vin  beu, 

Tant  com  lui  plot  et  bon  li  fu, 

Et  manga  de  vos  .iii.  pastes. 
Vv.  25-6  of  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  35,  refer  to  the  vilain  as  full  of 
graipaille   (thievishness).     V.  6467  of  Perceval  characterizes  theft 
as  vilain  et  fol. 

Testimony  as  to  the  treacherous  nature  of  the  vilain  is  found  in 
vv.   204-8   of   Le   Couronnement   dc   Louis,    which   advise   against 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  47 

accepting  his  advice  on  the  ground  that  he  would  deceive  for  very 
little  : 

Et  altre  chose  et  vueil  filz  acointier, 

Que  se  tu  vis,  il  t'avra  grant  mestier: 

Que  de  vilain  ne  faces  conseillier, 

Fill  a  prevost  ne  de  fil  a  veier 

II  boisereient  a  petit  por  loier. 
Compare  with  the  above  v.  7774  of  the  Enfances  Ogier: 

Car  de  vilain  vilain  conseil  a  on. 
In  vv.  1081-4  of  Eliduc,  M.  de  France,  Lais,  Guilliadun  complains 
of  Eliduc,  saying  that  he  deceived  her  vileinement,  i.  e.  as  a  vilain 
would  have  done : 

Vileinement  descunseilliee 

m'a  en  altre  terre  laissiee. 

Trahie  m'a,  ne  sai  que  deit. 

Mult  est  fole,  qui  hume  creit ! 
Vv.  2661-4  of  Partonopeus  de  Blois  declare  that  the  znlain  only 
waits  for  a  good  opportunity  to  harm  one  of  whom  he  is  afraid. 
Vv.  67-74  of  Le  Donnei  des  Amants  compare  the  vilain  to  a  dog 
who  wags  his  tail  in  a  friendly  manner  and  then  bites : 

Mastins  e  li  vilein  de  but 

De  nature  resemblent  mut: 

Chen  de  cue  fet  bel  semblant, 

Et  pus  si  mort  tut  en  emblant ; 

Moet  la  cue,  mort  de  la  dent, 

Et  li  vilain  fet  ensement: 

Quant  li  vileins  plus  vus  losenge, 

Gardez  devers  vus  ne  mesprenge. 
Vv.  6166-7  of  Perceval  characterize  traison  (treachery)  as  laide  et 
vilaine.     Vv.  3165-6  of  Lancelot  place  vilenie  in  the  same  category 
as  trdison  et  felenie.     Vv.  325-7  of  Du  chevalier  qui  fist  les  c.  parler, 
Fabliaux  vi  147,  employ  vilenie  as  a  synonym  for  treachery. 

The  implication  that  the  vilain  does  not  fight  fairly  is  also  found. 
To  take  unfair  advantage  of  one  who  has  been  overcome  in  combat 
is  termed  vilenie  in  vv.  993-9  of  Erec : 

"Ha !  vassaus,"  fet  il,  "conquis  m'as. 

Merci !  Ne  rnocirre  tu  pas, 

Des  que  tu  m'as  outre  et  pris : 

Ja  n'an  avroies  los  ne  pris. 


48  CORTOIS  AND  V I LAIN. 

Se  tu  des  or  mes  me  tochoies, 

Trop  grant  vilenie  feroies. 

Tien  m'espee,  je  la  te  rant." 
Folquet  de  Marseille,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  154,  says  that  it  is  folly  for 
a  man  to  fight  one  stronger  than  himself,  and  that  he  takes  a  risk 
when  he  contends  with  one  equal  in  strength,  while  to  fight  with 
one  weaker  than  himself  is  vilania. 


X. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS  GENEROUS;  THE  VJLAIN  IS  STINGY, 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  GENEROUS. 

Generosity  is  that  quality  of  the  cortois  which  has  been  more 
generally  noticed  than  any  other  by  writers  who  have  touched  upon 
the  subject  of  cortoisie.  The  ideas  of  cor  testa  and  larghezza  were 
so  closely  associated  in  the  minds  of  those  for  whom  Dante  wrote 
that  he  thought  it  necessary  to  caution  them  against  considering 
cortesia  to  consist  in  larghezza  and»nothing  more.  In  the  Convito, 
tr.  ii,  c.  11,  says:  E  now  siano  li  miseri  volgari  anche  di  questo 
vocabolo  ingannati,  che  credona  che  cortesia  non  sia  altro  che 
larghezza:  che  larghezza  e  una  speziale  e  non  gcnerale  cortesia. 
Andre  le  Chapelain  in  his  De  Amore  (ed.  Trojel,  p.  65)  recom- 
mends generosity  to  those  who  would  be  cortois  in  the  words : 
Sed  et,  si  viderit  pauperes  esurire  et  eis  alimenta  praestiterit,  magna 
curialitas  atque  largitas  reputatur.  Prof.  H.  R.  Lang,  in  a  note  on 
Courtesy  in  the  Cancioneiro  Gallego-Castelhano,  vol.  i  p.  167,  after 
quoting  Jeanroy's  definition  of  the  term,  says:  "One  of  the  most 
essential  elements  of  courtesy  thus  conceived  was  liberality,  benefi- 
cence. Hence  Dante  (Vita  Nuova,  c.  xliii;  cf.  Convito  iv,  20) 
speaks  of  God,  the  giver  of  all  good  and  perfect  gifts,  as  the  sire 
della  cortesia,  and  Petrarch,  in  the  celebrated  canzone  Italia  mia, 
addresses  him  as  Signor  cortese." 

The  direct  testimony  in  mediaeval  texts  to  the  part  played  by 
generosity  in  cortoisie  is  considerable.  Wace,  Brut,  vv.  6763-8, 
states  that  Vortiger  was  called  cortois  because  of  his  generous  gifts : 

Tant  lor  a  Vortiger  done 

Et  tant  a  cascuns  honore 

N'i  ot  un  sol  qui  ne  deist, 

Oiant  qui  oir  le  volsist, 


CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN.  49 

Que  Vortiger  ert  plus  cortois 

Et  mius  vaillans  que  n'ert  li  rois. 
In  another  passage  in  the  same  poem  (vv.  1605-6)  Wace  says: 

Et  Anor  fut  li  plus  cortoise 

Et  mius  sot  demener  ricoise. 
The  author's  view  of  a  cortois  use  of  wealth  has  been  shown  in 
the  lines  previously  quoted,  and  we  have  no  difficulty  in  recognizing 
the  implication  of  liberality  here.  Chretien  de  Troies,  in  Erec,  vv. 
3 181 -5,  gives  an  instance  of  Erec's  generosity,  for  which  he  calls 
him  cortois: 

Quant  mangie  orent  et  beii, 

Erec  cortois  et  larges  fu. 

Amis,  fet  il,  an  guerredon 

Vos  faz  d'un  de  mes  chevaus  don. 

Prenez  celui  qui  miauz  vos  siet ! 
Marie  de  France  in  the  lay  of  Milun,  vv.  322-332,  describing  Milun, 
says  that  he  became  acquainted  with  wealthy  knights,  and  jousted 
with  them,  invariably  coming  oft"  conqueror;  and  that  all  he  gained 
in  ransoms  he  gave  to  his  poor  friends,  and  maintained  them, 
spending  liberally.  Then  in  v.  332  she  sums  up  all  his  excellences 
in  the  words,  mult  fu  curteis,  mult  sot  honur.  The  author  of  De 
Court  oisie,  in  vv.  128-9,  admonishes  those  who  would  be  cortois 
to  learn  to  give  well.  In  Gaydon,  vv.  10822-4,  we  are  told  in  the 
words  of  the  King  of  France  that  he  gives  the  great  seneschalship 
of  "sweet  France"  to  Gaydon.  Thereupon  Duke  Naynmes  ex- 
claims: C'est  assez  cortoisie.  In  vv.  2510-5  of  UAtre  Perillous 
we  are  told  of  a  knight  who  n'ert  pas  vilain,  and  the  explanation  of 
his  implied  cortoisie  follows : 

Ki  fist  au  matin  atorner, 

Quant  il  vit  qu'il  durent  monter, 

Un  palefroi  moult  ricement, 

Tout  en  ert  fres  l'acesmement, 

Li  lorains,  li  frains  et  la  sele. 
The  author  of  Flamenco,  in  a  passage  too  long  to  be  quoted  here 
(vv.  1745-1768),  tells  of  the  extreme  generosity  of  Guillem  de 
Nivers  lo  cortes  (v.  1761).  He  not  only  gave  rich  gifts  to  his 
friends,  but  they  felt  perfectly  free  to  lodge  where  they  liked  and 
live  high  at  his  expense,  and  their  host  never  spoke  of  payment, 


5o  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

so  sure  was  he  of  being  amply  recompensed  as  soon  as  a  tourney 
or  a  war  brought  Guillem  de  Nivers  that  way.1 

There  is  a  large  amount  of  less  direct,  but  still  important  testi- 
mony to  be  found  in  the  frequent  and  close  association  of  the  ideas 
of  cortoisie  and  generosity  in  the  lines  of  the  mediaeval  poets.  An 
early  example  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  Philippe  de  Thaiin's  Bestiaire, 
vv.  5-8: 

Pur  l'onur  d'une  geme 

Ki  mult  est  bele  feme 

E  est  curteise  e  sage, 

De  bones  murs  e  large : 
In  this,  as  in  many  other  cases,  the  quality  of  generosity  is  men- 
tioned among  other  favorable  attributes  of  the  cortois.  Wace, 
Brut,  vv.  2727-8,  speaks  of  one  who  knew  how  to  make  himself 
popular  Par  cortoisie,  et  par  doner.  In  Chretien  de  Troies'  Yvain 
we  find  the  lines  (1293-7)  : 

De  vostre  enor,  biaus  sire  chiers, 

Ne  fu  onques  nus  chevaliers 

Ne  de  la  vostre  cortoisie. 

Largesce  estoit  la  vostre  amie 

Et  hardemanz  vostre  compainz ; 
and  in  Cligcs,  vv.  184-5  : 

Meis  gardez  que  mout  soiiez  larges 

Et  cortois  et  bien  afeitiez. 
Two  lines  in  Chretien's  Erec  (1561-2), 

Ses  peres  est  frans  et  cortois, 

Mes  que  d'avoir  a  petit  pois, 
are  evidence  that  he  considered  that  true  cortoisie  was  not,  however, 
limited    to   the    wealthy    class.     Marie    de    France    in    the    lay    of 
Chaitwel,  vv.  35-8,  says  of  four  Breton  knights, 

II  n'aveient  guaires  d'ee 

mes  mult  erent  de  grant  bealte 

Additional  passages  illustrating  the  generosity  of  the  cortois  are  as  fol- 
lows:  Flamenca,  vv.  5284-8;  Bertrand  de  Pujet,  Rayn.  Choix  iv,  p.  375  and 
p.  376;  Fabliaux  i  12,  vv.  43-9;  ibid.,  iii  71,  vv.  322-7  (cf.  vv.  317-9)  ;  ibid., 
iii  84,  vv.  7-14;  ibid.,  v  136,  vv.  11,  14-18;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  62,  vv.  19-24; 
ibid.,  iii  2,  vv.  10-15;  ibid.,  iii  54,  v.  26. 


CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN.  51 

e  chevalier  pruz  e  vaillant, 
large,  curteis  e  despendant.1 


(b)    THE  VILAIN  IS  STINGY. 

The  stinginess  of  the  vilain  is  implied  in  vv.  902-4  of  Guillaume 
d'Angleterre,  where  covetousness  is  termed  vilainne.  In  Li  respit 
del  curteis  et  del  vilain,  strophe  41,  we  have  the  following  direct 
statement : 

Moult  porte  queor  vilein 

Et  trop  a  estreit  mein 

Ke  rien  ne  seet  fors  prendre. 
In  the  fablel  Du  chevalier  qui  fist  les  c.  parler,  Fabliaux  vi  147,  vv. 
188-170,  a  lack  of  liberality  is  termed  vilenie: 

Et  nos  avon  fait  vilenie, 

Qui  riens  ne  li  avons  done 

Dont  il  nos  doie  savoir  gre. 
The  stinginess  of  the  vilain  is  referred  to  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose, 
i  p.  74: 

Xe  te  fai  tenir  por  aver, 

Car  ce  te  porroit  moult  grever; 

II  est  raison  que  li  amant 

Doignent  du  lor  plus  largement 

Que  cil  vilains  entule  et  sot. 
The  complaints  of  a  woman  married  to  a  vilain    (Bartsch,  A.  R. 
u.  P.,  i  64,  vv.  15-16)  are  due  to  his  miserliness: 

A  un  vilain  m'ont  donee  mi  parent, 

qui  ne  fet  fors  auner  or  et  argent. 
The   fablel  Du    Vilain  Mire    {Fabliaux  iii   74),   vv.    1-2,   and   the 
Fablel  d'Aloid   {ibid.,   i   24),  vv.   5-6,   mention  a  vilain  who  was 
avers  et  c(h)iches. 

Chretien  de  Troies  in  Cliges,  vv.  4547-8,  associates  stinginess 
with  vilenie  in  a  list  of  undesirable  qualities : 

Chiches  et  fos  et  contrefeiz 

Et  vilains  an  diz  et  an  feiz. 
In  Yvain,  vv.  4381-4,  we  are  told  that  no  one  is  any  longer  noble 
or  cortois,  but  that  every  one  asks  for  himself  that  which  he  does 

xSee  also  Tydorel,  vv.  221-4;  ibid.,  v.  454;  Perceval,  vv.  29076-9;  Fab- 
liaux  iv  106,  vv.  456-7;  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  33794. 


52  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

not  for  another,  even  though  he  himself  has  no  need  of  it.  It  is 
against  this  "dog  in  the  manger"  attitude  that  Andre  le  Chapelain 
(De  Amore,  p.  122)  makes  the  plebeian  woman  remonstrate  with 
the  words :  Inurbanum  satis  esse  videtur  et  a  bonis  moribus  mani- 
feste  deviate  cognoscitur,  si  bonum,  quod  quisque  sibi  habere  non 
potest,  alteri  prorsus  velit  denegare  petenti.  Inurbanum  in  this 
connection  without  doubt  has  the  same  force  as  the  French  adjective 
vilain.  Vv.  188-190  of  the  Lai  de  VOiselet  declare  that  the  vilain 
prefers  getting  money  to  courting  ladies : 

Or  m'ot  cil  vilains  pleins  d'envie, 
Qui  aime  asses  mieus  le  denier 
Qu'il  ne  face  le  donoier. 


XL 

THE   CORTOIS   IS    RICHLY    DRESSED;    THE    VILAIN    IS    POORLY    DRESSED. 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  RICHLY  DRESSED. 

As  the  personal  characteristics  of  the  cortois  were  of  an  order 
superior  to  those  of  other  men,  so  his  dress  was  more  elaborate 
and  of  finer  quality.  The  troubadour  Garis  lo  Brus,  quoted  in  the 
Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  32238-9,  thus  defines  cortoisie: 

Cortezi'  es  en  gent  garnir 
Et  en  gent  aculhir. 

N'Arnaut  Guilhem  de  Marsan  in  his  Enscnhamen,  Appel,  Prov. 
Chrest.,  St.  112,  vv.  9-16,  says  that  the  wearing  of  fine  white  shirts 
gives  to  an  excellent  knight  the  appearance  of  cortoisie: 

Car  totz  pros  cavayers 
deu  vestir  a  sobriers 
camizas  de  ransan 
primas,  car  ben  estan, 
e  blancas  totas  vetz, 
que  mielhs  en  semblaretz 
cortes  et  ensenhatz 
en  totz  locx  on  venhatz. 

Vv.  26749-53  of  Perceval  speak  of  one  hundred  cortoises  maidens 
who  were  richly  clad: 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  53 

Bien  i  avoit  .c.  damoisieles, 

Avenans,  cortoises  et  bieles, 

Acesmees  de  riche  atour 

Et  viestues  d'une  coulour 

De  samis  a  bendes  d'orfrois. 
Le  Chevalier  a  l'£pee,  vv.  37-46,  describes  the  attitre  of  a  knight 
who  "clothed  himself  in  the  manner  of  the  cortois" : 

Cortoisement  s'aparella : 

Uns  esperons  a  or  chauca 

Sor  unes  chauces  decopees 

De  drap  de  soie  bien  ovrees ; 

Si  ot  unes  braies  chauciees, 

Mout  tres  blanches  et  mout  dougiees, 

Et  chemise  gascorte  et  lee 

De  lin  menuement  ridee, 

Et  un  mantel  afuble: 

Mout  richement  fu  atorne. 
The  Lai  du  Trot,  vv.  77-86,  mentions  a  group  of  maidens  Ki 
cortoises  furent  et  beles,  S'estoient  molt  bien  acesmees;  upon  their 
heads  they  wore  chaplets  of  roses  and  of  eglantine.  L'Atre  Peril- 
lous,  vv.  3752-4,  refers  to  a  maiden  who  was  Et  cortoise  et  bien 
acesmee. 

(b)    THE  VILAIN  IS  POORLY  DRESSED. 

Evidence  upon  this  point  is  chiefly  negative,  although  inferences 
may  be  drawn  from  those  passages  in  which  the  generally  uncouth 
appearance  of  the  vilain  is  described  (see  pp.  76-7).  Negative  evi- 
dence is  found  in  those  passages  in  which  one  who  is  richly  dressed, 
or  finely  equipped,  is  said  not  to  be  vilain,  or  not  to  resemble  a 
vilain.     Eneas,  vv.  1495-9: 

conreez  fu  le  Troien, 

com  por  aler  en  bois,  molt  bien : 

le  cuivre  al  col,  Tare  en  la  main, 

ne  resemblot  de  rien  vilain; 

ce  vos  semblast  que  fust  Febus. 
Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Lanval,  vv.  175-7: 

Quant  il  fu  vestuz  de  nuvel, 

suz  ciel  nen  ot  plus  bel  dancel ; 

n'esteit  mie  fols  ne  vileins. 


54  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Amadas  et  Ydoine,  vv.  1698-9: 

Com  cil  qui  n'est  mie  vilains, 
Ot  un  blans  gans  de  Castiaudun. 

Perceval,  vv.  28635-41 : 

Atant  est  d'tine  cambre  issue 
Une  dame  ki  fu  viestue 
D'une  escarlate  teinte  en  graine; 
Trop  me  seroit  anuis  et  paine 
De  la  biaute  de  li  escrire ; 
Mais  tant  vos  puis  conter  et  dire 
Que  n'estoit  vilaine  ne  fole. 

Durmart  le  Galois,  vv.  3859-3865 : 

Mais  ses(t)  ostes  qui  molt  fu  ber 
Li  fist  un  mantel  aporter 
D'une  escarlate  clere  et  fine, 
La  penne  estoit  tote  d'ermine. 
Li  Galois  s'en  est  affiebles, 
Asses  fu  la  nuit  regardes, 
Ne  sembla  pas  filz  de  vilain. 


XII. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS  COURAGEOUS;  THE  VILAIN  IS  A  COWARD, 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  COURAGEOUS. 

Direct  characterizations  of  the  cortois  as  courageous  are  found 
as  follows.  In  Wace,  Brut,  vv.  11 517-21,  the  first  mariner  is  thus 
commended  for  venturing  upon  an  unknown  sea :     * 

Mult  fu  hardis,  mult  fu  cortois 

Cil  qui  nes  fist  premierement 

Et  en  mer  se  mist  od  le  vent, 

Terre  querre  qu'il  ne  veoit, 

Et  rivage  qu'il  ne  savoit. 
Vv.  56-60  of  the  Lai  d'Ignaures  tell  how  the  hero  of  the  lay  spent 
a  part  of  his  cortoise  vie  at  tournaments,  showing  his  courage  by 
jousting  with  many  knights : 


CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN.  55 

Molt  demainne  cortoise  vie, 

Et  quant  tornoi  estoient  pris, 

II  i  aloit  querre  son  pris 

A  .  xx .  chevaliers  u  a  trente, 

Et  si  n'avoit  c'un  poi  de  rente. 
The  Doctrinal  le  Sauvage,  stanza  28,  implies  the  courage  of  the 
cortois  by  criticising  as   lacking  in   cortoisie   those  who  are   very- 
quarrelsome,  but  yet  are  of  no  account  in  wars  and  in  tournaments : 

D'une  autre  gent  me  sui  merveilliez  mainte  foiz 

Qui  font  granz  aatines,  outrages  et  desroiz 

Et  si  ne  valent  riens  aus  guerres  n'aus  tornoiz : 

Certes,  ce  poise-moi  qu'il  ne  sont  plus  cortois. 
Hugues   Capet,  vv.   4792-5,   characterizes   death   for  one's   lord   as 
cortoisie : 

Qui  muert  pour  son  signeur,  il  meurt  en  courtoissie. 

Je  moray  liement  se  vous  cuers  s'i  alye ; 

Car  sachiez  j'aime  mieux,  douce  dame  prisie, 

Morir  a  grant  honour  que  vivre  en  vilonnie. 
Further  testimony  as  to  the  part  played  by  courage  in  cortoisie 
is  given  by  passages  in  which  the  two  ideas  are  associated.     Wace, 
Brut,  vv.  2261-4: 

Hardis  fu  et  biax  et  cortois, 

Cil  trespassa  trestos  les  rois 

Qui  en  Bretaigne  orent  este 

De  hardiment  et  de  biaute.1 
The  courage  of  the  cortois  was,  however,  not  without  its  reason- 
able limits,  according  to  Chretien  de  Troies.  In  vv.  4326-30  of 
Yvain  he  represents  the  hero  as.  hesitating  for  a  moment  to  attack 
la  presse  (v.  4337),  as  any  man  who  was  cortois  and  intelligent 
might  do: 

Mes  sire  Yvains  vient,  si  la  voit 

Au  feu  ou  an  la  viaut  ruiier, 

Et  ce  li  dut  mout  enuiier. 

Cortois  ne  sages  ne  seroit, 

Qui  de  rien  nule  an  doteroit. 
His  hesitation  was  only  momentary,  however;  cf.  vv.  4337-8.     The 
same  poet,  in  Yvain,  vv.  3192-5,  represents  li  cortois  as  being  over- 
see also  Erec,  vv.  2499-2502 ;  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Milun,  vv.  13-14 ; 
Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  30922-3;  Gaufrey,  vv.  3756-7. 


56  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

come  by   Yvain,   showing  that   though   he   considered   the   cortois 
courageous  he  did  not  consider  them  as  necessarily  invincible : 

Car  li  cortois,  li  preuz,  li  buens, 

Mes  sire  Yvains  tot  autresi 

Les  feisoit  venir  a  merci 

Con  li  faucons  fet  les  cerceles. 

(b)    THE   VILAIN  IS  A   COWARD. 

Wace  mentions  the  faint-heartedness  of  the  vilain  in  Brut,  vv. 
6240-1 : 

N'i  avoit  fors  la  vilenaille 

Qui  n'avoit  qure  de  bataille, 
and  in  the  Roman  de  Rou,  vv.  11 195-8: 

N'osoent  uilain  laborer, 

Ne  boes  ioindre,  ne  champs  arer, 

Ne  marcheant  par  uile  aler, 

Ne  marcheandise  porter. 
In  Thebes,  vv.  2779-2780,  Meleages  is  termed  vilains  because  of  his 
lack  of  courage : 

Meleages,  mout  ies  vilains, 

N'ies  pas  de  hardement  certains. 

Benoit  de   Sainte-More  speaks  of  the  cowardice   of  the  vilain   in 
Troie,  vv.  6040-2 : 

N'i  a  vilain  ne  vavassor 

Qui  ne  guerpisse  son  maneir, 

N'en  i  ose  uns  sols  remaneir. 
£neas,  vv.  6888-90,  uses  the  cowardice  of  the  vilain  in  a  comparison 
as  if  it  were  a  well-known  fact: 

vos  avez  la  teche  al  vilain, 

ki  la  endreit  hue  son  chien 

o  il  n'ose  aler  por  rien. 
Erec,  vv.  801-4,  relates  how  the  vilainne  jant  (v.  798)  drew  back 
before  a  knight  who  was  armed  merely  with  a  rod : 

Li  cuens  est  venuz  an  la  place, 

As  vilains  vient,  si  les  menace, 

Une  verge  tient  an  sa  main  : 

Arriers  se  traient  li  vilain. 
Elie  de  Saint  Gille,  vv.  582-5,  thus  describes  the  fright  of  a  vilain 
at  the  sight  of  carnage: 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  57 

A  iceste  parolle  .i.  vilain  lor  est  sors 

Et  portoit  se  cuingnie  dont  ot  ovre  le  jor. 

Quant  il  voit  les  paiens  detranchies  en  Perbous, 

En  fuie  vaut  torner,  car  mout  ot  grant  paour. 
Cleomades,  vv.  143-8,  declares  that  not  even  shame  will  keep  the 
vilain  from  running  away  from  danger : 

Tel  gent  pour  leur  seignour  morroient, 

La  ou  li  vilain  s'en  fuiroient ; 

Car  li  vilains  par  droit  ne  crient 

Honte  quant  de  vilain  lieu  vient; 

Ne  vilain  ne  sevent  cremir 

Honte,  quant  il  cuident  morir. 
The  fablel  De  V  oustillement  au  vilain,  Fab.  ii  43,  states  (vv.  87-92) 
in  what  manner  the  vilain  shall  arm  himself  to  defend  his  land,  but 
(vv.  111-114)  advises  him  not  to  be  in  the  front  rank  of  the  fight: 

Mes  gart  qu'il  ne  soit  mie 

Devant  a  Tescremie, 

Quar  il  feroit  que  fols, 

S'il  ert  aus  premiers  cops. 
In  other  passages  the  cowardice  of  the  vilain,  though  not  directly 
alleged,  is  implied.  Guiraut  de  Quentinhac,  quoted  in  the  Breviari 
d'Amor,  vv.  33596-7,  declares  that  the  tendency  to  be  easily  fright- 
ened is  gran  vilanatge,  i.e.  very  characteristic  of  the  vilain.  In 
vv.  7981-7  of  Perceval,  Gawain  says  that  for  him  to  weakly  turn 
back  from  his  undertaking  would  be  trop  vilains.  Vv.  61 1-4  of 
Tyolet  imply  that  the  vilain  would  not  dare  to  enter  a  tournament: 

"Par  foi,"  fet  il,  "sire  Gauvain, 

Or  me  tenez  vos  por  vilain, 

Qui  me  dites  que  n'os  porter 

Ma  lance  en  estor  por  joster." 
Perceval,  vv.  17995-8  and  18001-2,  characterizes  one  who  shows  his 
faint-heartedness  by  weeping  as  lacking  in  cortoisie,  i.e.  vilain'. 

"Dites-moi,  fait-il,  sire  rois, 

Vous  n'estes  mie  si  cortois 

Que  j'ai  01  toustans  conter; 

Que  rois  ne  doit  mie  plorer. 


Ploret  aves  et  duel  mene, 
Foible  cuer  aves.   .    .  " 


58  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

XIII. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS  VERSED   IN  THE  ART   OF  COURTLY   LOVE;   THE   VILAIN 
IS  IGNORANT  OF   COURTLY  LOVE. 

(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  VERSED  IN  THE  ART  OF  COURTLY  LOVE. 

The   God   of    Love   is    represented    as   being   cortois.     Hugues 
Brunet,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  315: 

Amors,  que  es  us  esperitz  cortes. 
Love  bears  the  banner  of  cortoisie,  and  whoever  will  serve  him  will 
be  free  from  vilenie.     Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  63 : 

Qu'  Amors  porte  le  gonfanon 

De  Cortoisie  et  la  baniere, 

Et  si  est  de  tele  maniere, 

Si  dous,  si  frans  et  si  gentis, 

Que  quiconques  est  ententis 

A  li  servir  et  honorer, 

Dedans  lui  ne  puet  demorer 

Vilonnie  ne  mesprison, 

Ne  nule  mauvese  aprison. 
Love  is  accompanied  by  Cortoisie.     Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  2,  vv.  3-6 : 

.    .    .   selonc  un  pandant 

trovai  Bone-Amor  floretes  coillant, 

en  sa  compaignie 

Sen  et  Cortoisie. 
To  love  is  cortoisie.     Marcabrus,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  373 : 

E  cortezia  es  d'amar. 
The  same  idea  is  expressed  in  similar  terms  by  Garis  lo  Brus,  quoted 
in  Le  Breinari  d'Antor,  v.  32240,  and  by  N'Uc  de  la  Bachalairia, 
quoted  in  Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  v.  32252.  Blacas,  Rayn.  Choix 
m>  P-  337>  represents  a  lover  as  saying  that  if  his  lady  loved  him 
as  well  as  he  loved  her  she  would  be  doing  gran  cortezia.  Peire 
Raimon  de  Toulouse,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  129,  associates  cortezia 
with  courtly  love: 

Lo  jorn  que  sa  cortezia 

Me  mostret,  e  m  fetz  parer 

Un  pauc  d'amor  ab  plazer. 
Chretien   de  Troies   in   Lancelot,   vv.   4377-8,    defines    cortoisie   as 
service  for  one's  lady: 

Ainz  est  amors  et  corteisie 

Ouanqu'an  puet  feire  por  s'amie. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  59 

Perceval's  musing  over  the  drops  of  blood  upon  the  snow  and 
recalling  his  lady's  face  is  termed  by  Gawain  a  cortois  thought; 
Perceval,  vv.  5824-5,  5828-37: 

"Et  jou  estoie  si  pensis 

D'un  penser  ki  moult  me  plaisoit, 


Que  devant  moi,  en  icest  leu, 

avoit  .iii.  gotes  de  fresc  sane 

Qui  enluminoient  le  blanc; 

En  l'esgarder  m'estoit  avis 

Que  la  fresce  color  del  vis 

M'amie  la  biele  veisse, 

Ne  ja  partir  ne  m'en  quesisce." 

"Certes,  fait  mesire  Gauvains, 

Cis  pensers  n'estoit  pas  vilains, 

Aingois  ert  moult  cortois  et  dos." 
Guillaume   Magret,   Rayn.   Choir  iii,  p.  419,   speaks  of  love  as  a 
cortois  disease: 

Mas  s'ieu  muer  de  tan  cortes  mal 

Cum  amors  es,  ja  no  m'er  grieu. 
Since  love  was  looked  upon  by  the  poets  as  inseparable  from 
cortoisie,  it  was  but  natural  that  they  should  limit  its  enjoyment 
to   the    cortois.     This    notion    was    often    expressed.     Le   Breviari 
d'Amor,  vv.  32215-6: 

Qui  vol  done  d'amor  far  son  pro 

Cove  qu'el  sia  cortes. 
Pierre  Rogiers,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  35 : 

Et  amors  ten  se  ab  los  cortes. 
The  same  thought  is  expressed  figuratively  by   Marcabrus,  Rayn. 
Choix  v,  p.  251 : 

Qui  ses  bauzia 

Vol  amor  alberguar, 

De  cortezia 

Deu  sa  maison  joncar. 
Chretien   de   Troies,    Yvain,   vv.    21-23,   lamenting   the   "good   old 
times,"  wrote: 

Car  cil  qui  soloient  amer 

Se  feisoient  cortois  clamer 

Et  preu  et  large  et  enorable. 


•60  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

The  same  poet,  Wackernagle  p.  15,  says: 

Nuls,  sil  nest  cortois  et  saiges, 

Ne  puet  riens  damors  aprendre. 
The  Breviari  d'Amor  insists  upon  this  quality  of  cortoisie  in  a  lover 
in  three  passages.     Vv.  30176-9: 

Quar  qui  es  be  enamorat 

Deu  esser  cortes  e  celat, 

Gardan  se  de  dire  folor 

Si  be  vol  aver  d'est'  amor. 
Ibid.,  vv.  287-9,  297-300: 

Or  voil  a  ton  estat  venir, 

comment  tu  te  doiz  contenir, 

se  vers  amours  veuz  assener. 


O  tout  cen  doiz  estre  cortois 

des  chevelz  siques  es  ortois : 

par  courtoisie  et  par  largesce 

puet  Ten  monter  en  grant  hautesce. 
Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  21,  cortezia  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  virtues  of 
the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  which  everyone  must  pluck 
who  wishes  to  have  the  fruit  of  ladies'  love.     In  Le  Roman  de  la 
Rose,  i  p.  74,  we  are  again  told  that  a  lover  must  be  cortois: 

Qui  d'Amors  vuet  faire  son  mestre, 

Cortois  et  sans  orguel  doit  estre. 
In  another  passage  from  the  same  work  the  God  of  Love  tells  the 
Lover  that  one  who  would  kiss  his  lips  must  be  cortois;  ibid.,  i  p.  63. 
Vv.  689-694  of  La  Clef  d'Amors  declare  that  a  letter  to  one's  lady 
must  be  couched  in  cortois  language,  without  any  word  of  vilanie, 
if  it  is  to  touch  her  heart.  Las  Leys  d'Amors,  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest., 
St.  124,  lines  40-42,  declare  that  one  who  is  in  love  must  show 
himself  cortes  in  his  actions  and  in  his  words.  Andre  le  Chapelain 
in  De  Amore,  p.  106,  among  his  "twelve  chief  precepts  of  love"  gives 
the  following:     In  omnibus  urbanum  te  constituas  et  curialem. 

Certain    passages    mention   cortois   who   are   lovers.     Lanfranc 
Cigala,  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest.,  St.  32,  vv.  45-47,  says  of  his  lady: 

que  li  cal  tan  cortezia 

que  d'un  plazen  ris  me  socor 

ades  quan  me  ve,  per  amor. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  61 

In  vv.  2602-5  of  h'Atre  Perillous  a  lady  speaks  of  a  cortois  knight 
who  was  her  lover: 

Sire,  fait  ele,  uns  chevaliers 

Biax  et  prox  et  cortois  et  sage, 

Ki  m'amena  en  cest  boscage, 

M'amoit  par  amors  et  je.lui. 
In  vv.  12-14  of  a  past  our  elle,  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  2,  the  speaker 
is  represented  as  asking  Bone-Amor,  Sen  and  Cortoisie  what  true 
lovers  are  doing.  They  reply,  hi  cortois,  It  lairge  vont  maix  a 
noient,  thus  defining  lovers  as  the  cortois  and  the  generous.  However, 
the  lay  of  Guigemar,  M.  de  France,  vv.  487-492,  takes  exception  to 
the  steadfastness  in  love  of  certain  curteis,  whom  she  accordingly 
terms  vilain : 

Plusur  le  tienent  a  gabeis, 

si  cume  cil  vilain  curteis, 

ki  jolivent  par  tut  le  mund, 

puis  se  vantent  de  ceo  que  funt. 

N'est  pas  amurs,  einz  est  folie 

e  malvaistiez  e  lecherie. 
Not  only  did  the  cortois  possess  those  qualities  which  made  him 
the  lover  par  excellence,  but  it  was  his   duty  to  love.     Thus  De 
Courtoisie,  which  contains  the  code  of  cortoisie,  directs  those  who 
would  be  cortois  to  love ;  vv.  1 14-5  : 

Si  voil,  qe  vous  ametz  par  amurs ; 

Ke  vous  en  serrez  le  plus  prus. 
he  Breviari  oVAmor,  vv.  27916-8,  referring  to  the  troubadour  Mira- 
val's  discussion  of  love  in  his  poems,  says : 

Amar  vole  done  le  cavaliers 

Et  estar  ves  amors  entiers 

Cum  savis  e  pros  e  cortes. 
Marie  de  France,  hats,  Equitan,  vv.  83-86,  speaks  of  the  uselessness 
of  cortoisie  without  love : 

Si  bele  dame  tant  mar  fust 

s'ele  n'amast  u  dru  n'eiist! 

Que  devendreit  sa  curteisie, 

s'ele  n'amast  de  druerie? 
The  cortois  should   accept  proffered   love,   as   well.     Marie   de 
France,  hais,  Eliduc,  vv.  393-6,  represents  Guilliadun  as  meditating 


62  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

after  having  sent  the  message  of  love  to  Eliduc  with  her  ring.     She 
says: 

Unkes  mes  ne  parlai  fors  ier 

e  or  le  faz  d'amer  preier, 

ieo  quid  que  il  me  blasmera ; 

s'il  est  curteis,  gre  me  savra. 
Less  direct  evidence  of  the  part  played  by  love  in  cortoisie  is 
found  in  certain  passages  where  the  two  ideas  are  closely  associated. 
Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  29898  and  29931 : 

Don  dis  l'amoros  el  cortes. 
Cf.  Flamenca,  vv.  7649-53. 

Love  is  represented  as  having  the  power  to  make  a  man  cortois. 
L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  3058-60 : 

Hardi  me  fist  comme  lion 

Amors  que  en  ses  las  me  mist; 

Cortois  et  enprenant  me  fist.1 
Andre  le  Chapelain  grants  the  truth  of  this  doctrine  in  De  Amore, 
p.  160,  where  he  says :     Quamvis  igitur  amor  cogat  omnes  curiales 
exsistere.   .    .    . 

(b)    THE  VILAIN  IS  IGNORANT  OF   COURTLY  LOVE. 

We  have  noticed  above  the  passage  in  which  the  God  of  Love 
is  spoken  of  as  cortois.  In  a  similar  passage  we  find  Bone  Amor 
referred  to  in  synonymous  terms  as  ne  pas  vilaine;  La  Chastclaine  de 
Saint  Gille,  Fabliaux  i  11,  vv.  284-6.  In  the  Roman  de  la  Rose, 
i  p.  68,  the  God  of  Love  directs  that  vilenie  be  forsaken,  on  pain 
of  his  displeasure,  and  all  those  who  love  vilenie,  for 
Vilonnie  fait  li  vilains, 
Por  ce  n'est  pas  drois  que  ge  Tains. 

The  vilain,  being  outside  the  pale  of  courtly  love,  could  not  be 
expected  to  comprehend  the  art  of  love.  So  Guilhem,  comte  de 
Peitieu,  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest.,  St.  59,  vv.  1-5,  says  that  he  who  does 
not  understand  his  love  song,  and  learn  it  by  heart,  should  be 
considered  a  vilain : 

^ee,  for  additional  statements  to  the  same  effect:  Blancandin,  vv. 
1380-91;  Pons  de  Capdueil,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  175;  Guillaume  de  Cabestaing, 
ibid.,  iii,  p.  Ill, 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  63 

Companho,  faray  un  vers  covinen, 

et  aura  i  mais  de  foudatz,  no  y  a  de  sen, 

et  er  totz  mesclatz  d'amor  e  de  ioy  e  de  ioven. 

E  tenguatz  lo  per  vilan,  qui  no  l'enten 

o  dins  son  cor  voluntiers  non  l'apren. 
The  author  of  La  Clef  d' Amors,  defining  the  purpose  of  his  book 
to  be  that  of  exposing  the  science  of  love,  tells  the  vilains,  vv.  173- 
180,  not  to  touch  it,  for  they  would  but  waste  their  time  in  consulting 
it: 

Or  ne  le  vienge  nul  aprendre 

s'il  n'a  cuer  amoureus  et  tend  re : 

traient  soy  en  sus  les  gelous 

as  cuers  felons  et  cavelous 

et  les  vilains  et  les  vilaines. 

Telz  gens  i  perdroient  lor  paines ; 

quer  a  eulz  n'apartient  il  mie 

a  savoir  d'amer  la  mestrie. 
And  since  the  vilain  was  ignorant  of  the  science  of  love,  it  would 
be  useless  to  talk  to  him  of  it.     De  Florance  et  de  Blanche  Flor, 
vv.  9-1 1 : 

A  vileins  ne  a  venteors 

Ne  doit-on  pas  parler  d'amors : 

Mais  a  clers  ou  a  chevaliers. 
This  ignorance  in  matters  of  love  is  alluded  to  in  two  passages  in 
pastourelles.     Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  iii  46,  vv.  70-71  : 

ostez,  savroit  done  vilains  amer? 

nenil  voir. 
Ibid.,  ii  23,  vv.  20-22 : 

si  laissiez  eel  vilain  sot, 

dorenlot,  c'ainz  ne  vos  sot 

bien  amer  ne  faire  joie.1 
The  vilain,  being  ignorant  in  matters  of  love,  failed  to  recognize 
the  evidences  of  it  in  another.     Thus  fineas,  in  Eneas,  vv.  9031-7, 
regrets  that  he  did  not  recognize  the  fact  that  Lavinia  loved  him, 
and  calls  himself  "vilain  in  love" : 

hoarse  variations  of  the  same  theme  are  found  as  follows:  Bartsch, 
A.  R.  ft,  P.,  i  69;  Fabliaux  iv  105,  vv.  1-5;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  iii  35,  vv. 
19-20. 


64  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Bien  puis  saveir  des  l'altre  jor, 

que  primes  fui  desoz  la  tor, 

a  ce  que  tant  me  reguardot, 

de  si  buen  oil,  qu'ele  m'amot ; 

des  i  done  m'en  aperceiisse, 

se  ge  d'amer  vilains  ne  fusse ; 

ne  saveie  que  ce  esteit. 
The  vilain  was  also  denied  the  enjoyment  of  love.     Flamenca,  vv. 
6014-6016 : 

Mais  amoretas  son  corals 

Don  non  gostan  vilan  ne  fals 

Domnejador  outracujat. 
Beauty  was  not  for  the  vilain3 s  touch.     Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  60, 
vv.  25-28: 

Damage  seroit,  pastourele, 

se  vilains  touce  a  ton  menton. 

quels  ieus,  quel  bouce  et  qel  mascele ! 

bien  aferroit  a  un  baron. 
However,  far  from  seeking  love,  the  vilain  is  constantly  repre- 
sented as  rejecting  it.     I  lie  et  Galeron,  vv.  3923-4 : 

Mais  or  est  si  que  gent  vilaine 

Ont  amours  toute  refusee. 
Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  iii  9,  vv.  33-35 : 

Quant  l'oi  si  escondire  de  s'amor 

erranment  li  pris  a  dire  par  iror 

'touse  n'iere  mais  cortois.   .    .    .  ' 
Ibid.,  ii  46,  vv.  33-35 : 

Sire,  a  vous  m'otroie: 

trop  vilainne  seroie 

se  vos  aloie  refuzant. 
In  Amadas  et  Ydoine,  vv.  11 30-7,  a  girl  laments  her  lover,  who  has 
died  on  account  of  her  refusal  of  him,  in  the  words : 

Fille  de  roi,  ne  de  roine, 
S'il  la  daignast  amer  d'amour, 
N'eiist  de  lui  mult  grant  honnour. 
Trop  li  ai  este  fie  re  et  dure, 
Et  orgilleuse  a  desmesure ; 
S'ai  fait  que  folle  et  que  dervee 
Et  que  vilaine  sourquidee, 
Que  non  sachans  et  ke  caitive ! 


CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN.  65 

Cadenet,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  253,  says  that  it  would  be  vilania,  i.e. 
the  act  of  a  vilaine,  for  a  girl  to  send  her  lover  away  before  the 
dawn: 

Quar  seria 

Desconoissens  vilania 

Qui  s  partria  malamen 

Son  amic  valen 

De  si,  tro  en  l'alba. 
Chretien  de  Troies,  in  Erec,  vv.  1832-4,  declares  it  to  be  the  act  of 
a  vilaine  to  object  to  being  kissed: 

La  pucele  ne  fu  pas  fole, 

Bien  vost  que  li  rois  la  beisast; 

Vilainne  fust  s'il  Tan  pesast. 
To  refuse  to  bestow  a  kiss  is  characterized  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose, 
i  p.  113,  as  the  act  of  a  vilaine: 

II  n'est  dame  ne  chastelaine 

Que  ge  ne  tenisse  a  vilaine, 

S'ele  n'el  daignoit  aesier 

D'avoir  un  savoreux  besier. 
To  scorn  one's  lover  is  defined  by  Bernard  de  Ventadour,  Rayn. 
Choix  iii,  pp.  76-77,  as  the  act  of  a  vilaine : 

Mas  d'aisso  fai  trop  que  vilana 

Ma  domna,  quar  aissi  m  soana; 

Quar  de  l'affan  no  mi  val  amistatz, 

Per  qu'ieu  disses  que  mielhs  sui  sos  privatz. 
Li  Fablel  don  Dieu  d' Amours,  p.  17,  mentions  the  vilain's  rejection 
of  love : 

Loussignos  sire,  bien  fust  drois  et  mesure, 

Que  ja  vilains  d'amiste  n'eust  cure. 

Car  se  il  aimme  en  aucune  mesure, 

N'est  pas  por  li,  ains  est  par  aventure. 
La  Clef  d' Amors,  vv.  261-8,  upbraids  as  vilaines  all  women  who  do 
not  yield   their  love   in   response  to  the   prayers   of   their  lovers : 

Toutes  fames  tien  a  vilaines 

qui  font  perdre  as  amans  lors  paines 

et  qui  refusent  et  desdient 

ceulz  qui  sanz  faintise  les  prient. 

Vilaines  sont  il  voirement ; 

je  le  te  preuve  clerement: 


66  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

cele  est  vilaine  a  qui  Ten  donne 
s'amour,  s'el  ne  le  guerredonne. 

Le  Chevalier  a  I'Epee,  vv.  321-3,  characterizes  as  vilaine  a  woman 
who  would  awaken  a  man's  love  and  leave  it  unsatisfied : 

Bien  set  qu'el  fe'ist  que  vilainne 
S'el  lou  meist  d'amors  en  painne 
Don  il  ne  traissist  ja  a  chief. 

Vv.  855-861  of  Cliges  represent  the  speaker  as  referring  to  his  lady 
as  an  arrow  which  has  pierced  him.     He  continues: 

Par  foi,  c'est  li  maus  qui  me  tue, 
Ce  est  li  darz,  ce  est  li  reis, 
Don  trop  vilainemant  m'ireis. 
Mout  sui  vilains,  qui  m'an  corroz. 

The  vilain  speaks  ill  of  love.     Li  Fablel  dou  Dieu  d}  amours,  p.  17: 

Sire,  fait-il,  che  font  villaine  gent, 
Cil  qui  mesdient  d'amors  a  escient; 
Se  cortois  fussent  nel  fesissent  noient. 

In  Perceval,  vv.  10316-22,  a  lady  laments  for  her  lover  whose  death 
has  rendered  her  vilaine,  i.  e.  deprived  of  love. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  none  of  the  French  passages  quoted 
above  as  bearing  upon  the  relation  of  the  system  of  courtly  love  to 
cortoisie  occurs  in  a  text  written  before  about  the  year  1165,  the 
earliest  ones  that  we  can  date  being  those  taken  from  £neas  and 
Ille  et  Galeron,  while  the  Provengal  examples  begin  with  Guilhem, 
Comte  de  Peitieu  (d.  n  27).  This  we  would  expect  from  the  fact 
that  the  ideas  of  the  more  artificial  Provengal  society  first  penetrated 
generally  into  the  North  with  Eleanor  of  Poitou.  They  seem,  how- 
ever, not  to  have  had  a  far-reaching  effect  in  French  literature  until 
the  time  of  her  daughter,  Mary  of  Champagne,  whose  influence 
Chretien  de  Troies  acknowledges  in  the  first  verses  of  Lancelot. 
We  are  obliged,  therefore,  to  exclude  gallantry  from  our  definition 
of  cortoisie  as  used  by  French  poets  writing  much  before  Chretien. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  67 

XIV. 

THE  CORTOIS  MAY  OR  MAY  NOT  INDULGE  IN  GUILTY  PHYSICAL  LOVE; 
THE  VILAIN  INDULGES  IN  GUILTY  PHYSICAL  LOVE. 

While  considering  the  same  general  subject  of  love  we  must 
notice  an  extensive  class  of  exceptions  to  the  general  rule  for  the 
utter  separation  of  vilain  and  cortois  in  character  and  actions  as 
they  appear  in  the  works  of  the  poets  of  mediaeval  France,  for  we 
find  upon  examination  of  those  passages  which  deal  with  physical 
love  unsanctioned  by  the  marriage  rite  that  the  cortois  is  culpable 
as  well  as  the  zrilain,  However,  there  are  passages  in  which  the 
cortois  is  represented  as  abstaining  from  indulgence  in  this  vice, 
and  in  this  confusion  we  have  but  another  manifestation  of  the 
conflict  between  the  chivalric  ideals  set  forth  by  the  poets  of  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  and  actual  social  conditions  at 
that  period.  That  these  ideals  forbade  criminal  intimacy  between 
the  sexes  is  shown  by  Andre  le  Chapelain,  De  Amore,  p.  182:  Et 
purus  quidem  amor  est,  qui  omnimoda  dilectionis  affectionc  duorum 
amantium  corda  coniungit.  Hie  autem  in  mentis  contemplatione 
cordisque  consistit  affectu;  procedit  autem  usque  ad  oris  osculum 
lacertique  amplexum  et  verecundum  amantis  nudae  contactum,  ex- 
tremo  praetermisso  solatio;  nam  Mud  pure  amare  volentibus  exer- 
cere  non  licet. 

(a)    THE    CORTOIS    MAY    OR    MAY    NOT    INDULGE    IN    GUILTY    PHYSICAL 

LOVE. 

The  passages  in  which  the  cortois  is  represented  as  rejecting 
guilty  physical  love  are  not  many,  and,  strange  to  say,  most  of 
them  are  found  in  the  fabliaux.  In  vv.  10-11,  15,  18-20,  of  De 
Constant  du  Hamel,  Fabliaux  iv  106,  we  are  told  how  Lady 
Ysabiau,  Qui  niout  estoit  cortoisc  dame,  indignantly  repulses  the 
amorous  advances  of  a  priest : 

Li  prestres  i  mist  son  pooir 

A  li  requerre  de  s'amor; 


II  li  donroit  assez  joiaus, 

Mes  la  dame  n'en  vout  nus  prendre, 
Ainz  dist  que  ja  par  covoitise 
Ne  fera  au  prestre  servise. 


68  CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN, 

In  vv.  98-100,  106-119,  of  the  same  fablel,  Lady  Ysabiau  is  repre- 
sented as  being  addressed  by  the  forester  upon  her  return  from 
mass.  He  offers  her  a  ring  which  bien  valoit  J.  marc  for  permis- 
sion to  kiss  her  pretty  mouth,  and  all  that  this  concession  would 
involve,  but  she  repulses  him  comme  cortoise,  with  the  words  (vv. 
114-119): 

"Certes,  sire,  pas  ne  me  poise 

Se  l'arc  et  l'anel  vous  remaint, 

Quar  nul  besoing  ne  me  soufraint 

Par  qoi  vous  m'aiez  si  sorprise; 

Je  ne  vous  ferai  ja  servise 

Par  vilonie  que  je  sache.   ..." 
In  vv.  39-55  of  Du  prestre  teint,  Fabliaux  vi  139,  we  read  how  a 
cortoise  dame  repulses  the  advances  of  a  priest  and  drives  him  from, 
the  house  with  a  cudgel : 

Mes  li  prestre  mout  poi  prisoit 

Quantque  le  borjois  li  fesoit; 

Mieus  vosist  gesir  o  sa  fame, 

Qui  mout  estoit  cortoise  dame, 

Et  fresche  et  avenant  et  bele. 

Le  prestre  chascun  jor  l'apele, 

De  s'amour  forment  la  requiert; 

La  bone  dame  dist  ja  n'iert 

Qu'ele  face  a  son  mari  tort, 

S'el  en  devoit  prendre  la  mort, 

Ne  vilanie  ne  hontage, 

Et  de  ce  a  el  cors  grant  rage 

Que  le  prestre  Ten  a  tant  dit ; 

Mout  le  ledenge  et  le  maudit: 

Fors  l'a  gete  de  sa  meson, 

Et  si  fort  le  fiert  d'un  tison 

Que  pou  s'en  faut  qu'el  ne  Tesfondre. 
In   Chretien   de   Troies'   Lancelot,   vv.   4859-65,   Queen    Guinevere 
defends  Kay  before  King  Bademagu,  who  believes  that  the  knight 
has  dishonored  her  bed.     She  says  Kay  is  so  cortois  and  so  loyal 
that  such  a  suspicion  is  untenable : 

Je  cuit  que  Kes  li  seneschaus 

Est  si  cortois  et  si  leaus 

Que  il  n'an  fet  mie  a  mescroire; 

Ne  je  ne  regiet  mie  an  foire 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  69 

Mon  cors,  ne  n'an  faz  livreison. 

Certes,  Kes  n'est  mie  teus  hon 

Qu'il  me  requeist  tel  outrage. 
In  vv.  15-17  of  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  52,  Putepoinne  is  sent  about 
his  business  by  a  shepherdess  whom  he  has  addressed,  with  the 

words : 

Vos  n'estes  mies  cortois,  sire,  sachies, 

qui  dames  et  puceletes  donoies. 

fu  de  ci,  ne  m'aprochies ! 
That  a  man  should  be  aware  of  the  unfaithfulness  of  his  wife  and 
still  permit  it  is  characterized  in  vv.  73-77  of  De  Connebert,  Fab- 
liaux v  128,  as  unworthy  of  a  cortois  person : 

Mais  cil  n'est  pas  cortois  ne  frans 

Qui  set  que  il  est  cous  sofranz ; 

Puisqu'il  lo  set  et  il  lo  sofre, 

L'an  lo  devroit  ardoir  en  sofre 

Trestote  la  premiere  foie. 

The   inference    which   we    are    justified    in    drawing   from   the 

passages  just  quoted  as  to  the  chastity  of  the  cortois  is  contradicted 

by  a  still   larger  number  of  passages.     Thus   Blanceflour   was   so 

full  of  cortoisie  (Perceval,  vv.  25040-6)  that  she  yielded  to  Perceval: 

Je  ne  vous  voel  mie  conter 

Le  sourplus,  se  plus  en  i  a ; 

Mais,  se  Percevaus  Ten  pria, 

En  Blancheflour  ne  remest  mie; 

Qui  si  plaine  ert  de  courtoisie, 

Que  cose  que  faire  vosist 

Por  nule  rien  ne  desdesist. 
In  vv.  121 18-22,  12128-31  of  Perceval  a  girl  is  represented  as  yield- 
ing her  person  to  Gawain  sans  vilonie;  but  they  discuss  love  and 
cortoisie  so  long  that  she  loses  her  virginity : 

"Amis,  fait-elle,  a  bandon 

Vos  mec  mon  cors,  et  vos  present 

M'amour  a  tous  jors  loiaument." 

"Et  jel  retieng,  ma  doce  amie, 

Lies  et  joians,  sans  vilonie,   ..." 


D'amours,  de  droit,  de  cortoisie, 
Ont  puis  ensamble  tant  parle 


70  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

Et  boinement  ris  et  jue 

Qu'ele  a  pierdu  nom  de  pucele. 
In  Du  clerc  qui  fu  repus  deriere  Vescrin,  Fabliaux  iv  91,  vv.  7-10, 
we  are  told  that 

En  Haynau  ot  une  bourgoise, 

En  une  ville,  assez  courtoise, 

Plaine  de  jeu  et  de  soulas, 

K'amours  le  tenoit  en  ses  las ; 
but  from  vv.   56,  71-72,  we  learn  that  she  was  not  chaste.     The 
author  may  have  intended  to  make  a  reservation  here  by  the  use  of 
asses,  as  perhaps  also  in  the  following  instance.     De  la  grue,  Fab- 
liaux v  126,  vv.  19-20: 

Li  vaslez  fu  assez  cortois, 
En  la  tor  monta  demenois. 

His  conduct  with  the  maiden,  detailed  in  the  lines  which  follow, 
shows  that  he  was  anything  but  cortois  in  the  sense  implied  in  the 
first  list  of  passages  examined  above.  In  vv.  558-561  of  Du  mantel 
mautaillie,  Fabliaux  iii  55,  all  the  ladies  who  essayed  the  trial  of 
chastity  by  putting  on  the  mantle,  no  matter  how  cortoises  they 
were,  failed.  In  the  Lai  d'Ignaurcs  we  read  that  twelve  married 
ladies  to  whom  Ignaures  has  been  making  love  (physical,  cf.  vv. 
322-4)  confess  to  one  of  their  number  whom  they  have  chosen 
prestre,  each  naming  Ignaures  as  her  lover.  Two  of  them  refer 
to  him  as  cortois  (see  vv.  140-3  and  157-9)  5  and,  further,  the  poet 
had  already  stated  in  v.  56  that  Ignaures  led  a  molt  cortoise  vie. 
Vv.  652-6  of  Le  Chevalier  a  l'£pee  relate  an  experience  of  that 
universal  lover,  Gawain.  He  approaches  his  host's  daughter  "like 
one  who  was  not  a  vilain"  and  is  about  to  violate  her  when  inter- 
rupted by  the  magic  sword.  Aimeric  de  Belenoi,  Appel,  Prov. 
Chrest.,  St.  30,  vv.  17-20,  laments  the  cruelty  of  his  lady  in  the 
words, 

qu'a  penas  pens  e  mon  cor 

nulh  ioy,  tant  ai  trist  coratge, 

quar  del  sieu  bel  cors  cortes 

no'm  fai  amistat  corteza. 

Vv.  1 1 17-8,  1125-30  of  La  Clef  d' 'Amors  term  it  an  act  of  vilanie 
for  one  to  obtain  a  kiss  from  his  lady  and  then  not  to  "complete 
the  cortoisie"  by  enjoying  her  body. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  71 

Certain  passages  allow  the  cortois  man  to  enjoy  guilty  love  pro- 
viding it  be  not  against  the  will  of  his  paramour.  Perceval,  vv. 
32189-99: 

Si  faitement  com  je  vous  di 

Furent  ambedui  concorde; 

Tant  ont  baisie  et  acole 

Que  Gauwains  la  flour  i  quelli ; 

Mais  el  livre  pas  n'en  01 

Que  fust  maugre  la  damosele 

Qu'ele  pierdi  nom  de  pucele, 

Ains  li  grea,  que  mot  n'en  dist. 

Se  Gauwains  forche  li  fesist, 

Dont  ne  fust-il  mie  cortois 

Et  si  ne  fust  raisons  ne  drois. 
Cf.  ibid.,  vv.  131 15-6. 

(b)    THE   VILAIN  INDULGES   IS   GUILTY   PHYSICAL  LOVE. 

Whatever  doubt  may  have  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  mediaeval 
poets  as  to  the  morality  of  the  cortois,  they  had  no  doubt  as  to  the 
vilain,  but  represented  him  consistently  as  immoral.  In  Beroul's 
Tristan,  ed.  Michel  i  p.  6,  guilty  love  is  referred  to  as  amor  vilaine: 

Et  il  ont  fait  entendre  au  roi 

Que  vos  m'amez  d'amor  vilaine. 
In  vv.  4698-4700  of  Blancandin  a  girl  rejects  a  man's  improper 
proposals,  saying  that  he  talks  like  a  vilain : 

"Si  me  dones  vo  druerie, 

Si  vous  espouserai  demain.,, 

"Oies,"  fet  ele,  "d'un  vilain." 
Vv.  91-98  of  La  Chastelaine  de  Vergi  give  the  words  of  a  knight 
who  refuses  the  proffered  secret  love  of  the  chastelaine  as  desreson 
si  vilaine  et  si  desloial. 

So  thoroughly  and  intimately  was  the  idea  of  guilty  love  asso- 
ciated with  the  vilain  in  the  minds  of  the  mediaeval  poets  that  what 
we  might  call  the  technical  expression  for  it  was,  the  abstract  term 
vilenie.  The  word  appears  in  this  sense  in  numerous  passages. 
E.g.  in  Thomas'  Tristan,  ed.  Michel  i  pp.  14-15,  vv.  291-4: 

Ne  larai,  Ysolt,  n'el  vus  die; 

Vus  faites  mult  grant  vilanie, 

A  vostre  cors  hunisement, 

Quant  il  vus  aime  si  durement. 
In  Le  Chevalier  a  VEpee,  vv.  550-1,  are  given  the  words  of  Gawain's 


72  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

host,  explaining  to  the  knight  that  it  is  certain  death  for  one  who 
lies  with  her  to  try  to  possess  her : 

Garder  l'estuet  de  vilenie, 

Mout  lou  convient  charroier  droit.1 
The  forcing  of  a  girl  against  her  will,  condemned  in  the  cortois 
(see  above),   is   referred  to  as  a   characteristic  act  of  the  vilain. 
Roman  de  Troie,  vv.  14987-92 : 

Sovent  li  dit  que  por  s'amor 

Ne  puet  garir  ne  nuit  ne  jor: 

Le  mengier  pert  et  le  dormir, 

Penser  et  lermes  et  sospir 

Le  font  penser  et  esmaier. 

Molt  est  vilains  de  li  preier. 
Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  19,  vv.  49-53 : 

ele  n'en  vuet  mie, 

mult  me  contralie 

et  dit  'nel  feroie: 

c'est  granz  vilenie 

d'ome  qui  tant  prie.   .    .    .  ' 
Perceval,  vv.  1 3 1 1 5-6 : 

Qui  par  force  fame  covoite 

II  fait  vilounie  revoite. 
That  a  woman  should  allow  two  men  to  possess  her  was  con- 
sidered by  Chretien  de  Troies  to  be  vilenie.     Cliges,  vv.  3152-3: 

Amors  an  li  trop  vilena, 

Car  ses  cors  fu  a  deus  rantiers. 
Ibid.,  vv.  5250-5 : 

Vostre  est  mes  cuers,  vostre  est  mes  cors, 

Ne  ja  nus  par  mon  essanpleire 

N'aprandra  vilenie  a  feire; 

Car  quant  mes  cuers  an  vos  se  mist, 

Le  cors  vos  dona  et  promist 

Si  que  autre  part  n'i  avra. 

xThe  word  vilenie  is  used  with  the  same  signification  also  in  the  following 
passages:  Erec,  v.  1838;  Perceval,  v.  3180;  Tristan,  i  p.  5 ;  ibid.,  i  p.  108;  ibid., 
i  p.  198,  v.  4126;  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Equitan,  v.  300;  ibid.,  Eliduc,  v.  576; 
Li  respit  del  curteis  et  del  vilain,  strophe  10;  Un  Dist  que  on  clamme  Respon, 
Jubinal,  Nouv.  Rec.,  i  p.  177;  Fabliaux  ii  50,  v.  534;  ibid.,  iii  55,  vv.  678-81; 
ibid.,  v  no,  vv.  277-9;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  14,  v.  52;  ibid.,  ii  55,  v.  8; 
ibid.,  ii  115.  vv.  1-7;  ibid.,  iii  25,  v.  55;  ibid.,  iii  48,  vv.  51-2 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  73 

XV. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS  MERRY;  THE  VILAIN  IS  GLOOMY. 

(a)  THE  CORTOIS  IS  MERRY. 

Benoit  de  Sainte-More  in  the  Roman  de  Troie,  vv.  14661-4, 
described  one  of  the  ornaments  of  the  chamber  of  beauty,  the  image 
of  a  girl  who  is  molt  corteise  in  that  she  is  joyous  and  dances: 

L'altre  pucele  est  molt  corteise 

Car  tote  jor  geue  et  enveise, 

Bale  et  tresche,  et  tunbe  et  salt 

Desus  un  pilier 

The  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  pp.  72-73,  says  that  love  is  a  very  cortoise 
malady,  because  it  brings  with  it  laughter  and  joy.  It  also  declares, 
i  p.  24,  that  Leesce  (Joy  personified)  is  not  at  all  vilaine  {i.e.  is 
cortoise),  but  knows  how  to  dance  and  enjoy  herself.  According 
to  the  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  33838-9,  no  man  was  considered  to  be 
genuinely  cortois  who  was  not  happy  and  gay: 

Ni  es  nulhs  horn  cortes  verais 

Si  non  es  alegres  e  gais. 
Instances  of  the  association  of  the  ideas  of  cortoisie  and  joy  are 
numerous.     Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  31379-82,  admonishes  lovers 
to  spread  joy  and  cortezia  everywhere: 

Pesso  done  li  fin  amador 

De  semenar  verai'  amor 

E  gauh  e  domnei  e  solatz 

E  cortezia  dans  totz  latz. 
See  also  ibid.,  v.  30274  and  v.  31785.     Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  97, 
Wi  6-8: 

bele  fu  et  coloree, 

cortoise  sage  et  senee, 

s'ot  le  cuer  gai. 
Passages  in  which  the  ideas  of  joy  and  cortoisie  are  closely  asso- 
ciated are  especially   plentiful   in   the   works   of  the   troubadours.1 

(b)  THE  VILAIN  IS  GLOOMY. 

Le  Donnei  des  Amants,  vv.  25-32,  declares  that  the  vilain  takes 
no  pleasure  in  joy,  but  hates  it,  and  always  carries  a  mournful 
countenance : 

1See  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  pp.  8,  14,  236,  361,  and  451 ;  ibid.,  v,  pp.  103,  125,  and 
289;  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest.,  St.  16,  v.  54;  ibid.,  St.  35,  vv.  4-5. 


74  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Si  me  suvint  pus  al  derein 
Ke  mut  est  fel  quer  de  vilein, 
E  la  sue  vie  est  maudite, 
Quant  en  joie  ne  se  delite, 
Li  suens  deliz  n'est  fors  grucer, 
Pendre  surcilz,  batre  e  tencer, 
Aver  tuz  jorz  morne  semblant, 
Hair  deduiz,  joie  e  chant. 

The  same  poem,  vv.   57-60,  mentions  again  the  vilain's  antipathy 
to  joy: 

Fran  quer  eime  mut  chant  e  joie: 

Ja  Deu  ne  doint  que  vilein  Foie ! 

Joie  que  nus  est  letuarie 

Al  vilein  est  tuche  contrarie. 
Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  6,  referring  to  Une  ymage  qui  Vilonie 
Avoit  non,  praises  the  skill  of  the  artist  who  had  so  well  depicted 
its  dolor  and  despit: 

Moult  sot  bien  paindre  et  bien  portraire 

Cil  qui  tiex  ymages  sot  faire; 

Car  bien  sembloit  chose  vilaine, 

De  dolor  et  de  despit  plaine. 
Not  only  was  the  irilain  out  of  sympathy  himself  with  pleasure, 
he  was  not  even  disposed  to  allow  others  to  enjoy  it.  In  vv.  15-18 
of  a  chanson  de  toile  by  Mestre  Richart  de  Semilli,  Bartsch,  A.  R. 
u.  P.,  i  64,  a  dame  qui  a  mal  mart  complains  of  her  vilain  husband 
who  does  not  permit  her  to  enjoy  herself: 

A  un  vilain  m'ont  donee  mi  parent, 

qui  ne  fet  fors  auner  or  et  argent, 

et  me  fet  d'ennui  morir  asses  sovent, 

qu'il  ne  me  let  joer. 

XVI. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS  BEAUTIFUL;  THE  VILAIN  IS  UGLY. 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  BEAUTIFUL. 

The  beauty  of  cortois  persons  is  thus   described  in  detail  by 
mediaeval  French  poets;  Le  Chevalier  a  l'£pee}  vv.  254-62: 
Je  ne  vos  porroie  a  nul  jor 
La  biaute  tote  ne  demie 
Don  ele  estoit  plainne  et  garnie, 
Ne  je  ne  la  voil  trespasser; 
Si  la  voil  a  bries  moz  conter. 


CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN.  75 

Quanc'onques  nature  sot  fere 
Qui  a  cors  d'ome  delist  plere, 
De  cortoisie  et  de  biaute, 
Ot  tot  entor  li  asanble. 

Perceztal,  vv.  42148-54: 

Car  courtois  estoit  durement; 
Et  fu  li  plus  biaus  chevaliers 
Con  trouvast  en  .  xxx .  miliers ; 
Onques  si  biaus,  a  son  avis, 
Ne  vit  ne  de  cors  ne  de  vis ; 
La  face  avoit  bele  et  vermeille 
Et  le  cors  grant  a  grant  mervelle. 

Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  41,  referring  to  Cortoisie: 

El  fu  clere  comme  la  lune 
Est  avers  les  autres  estoiles, 
Qui  ne  ressemblent  que  chandoiles. 
Faitisse  estoit  et  avenant, 
Je  ne  sai  fame  plus  plaisant. 
Ele  ere  en  toutes  cors  bien  digne 
D'estre  empereris  ou  roine. 
De  Connebert,  Fabliaux  v  128,  vv.  35-8 : 
La  fame  d'un  fevre  ot  amee 
Qui  mout  ert  par  lui  renomee 
Por  ce  qu'ele  ert  et  bele  et  blanche 
Et  de  mout  cortoise  sanblance. 

Tyolet,  vv.  696-8  (cf.  vv.  399-400)  : 

Fleur  de  lis  ou  rose  novele, 
Quant  primes  nest  el  tans  d'este, 
Trespassoit  ele  de  biaute. 

Less  direct  evidence  of  the  mediaeval  poets'  conception  of  the 
beauty  of  the  cor  tots  is  found  in  passages,  of  which  there  is  a  large 
number,  in  which  the  ideas  of  cortoisie  and  beauty  are  closely 
associated.     E.g.  Wace,  Ron,  vv.  235-7: 

El  pais  out  une  pucele, 

Gunnor  out  nun,  mult  par  fu  bele, 

Bien  afattie  e  bien  curteise. 


76  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

Erec,  w.  127-8: 

Lez  li  Eric  et  sa  pucele, 

Qui  mout  estoit  cortoise  et  bele.1 

(b)    THE  VILAIN  IS  UGLY. 

Chretien  de  Troies  in  Yvain,  vv.  288-302,  describes  at  length 
the  repulsive  appearance  of  a  vilain  whom  the  chevalier  au  lion 
met  in  the  forest  when  on  his  way  to  the  fountain : 

Un  vilain  qui  ressanbloit  mor, 

Grant  et  hideus  a  desmesure, 

(Einsi  tres  leide  creature, 

Qu'an  ne  porroit  dire  de  boche), 

Vi  je  seoir  sor  une  goche, 

Une  grant  macue  an  sa  main. 

Je  m'aprochai  vers  le  vilain, 

Si  vi  qu'il  ot  grosse  la  teste 

Plus  que  roncins  ne  autre  beste, 

Chevos  meslez  et  front  pele, 

S'ot  plus  de  deus  espanz  de  le, 

Oroilles  mossues  et  granz, 

Auteus  com  a  uns  olifanz, 

Les  sorciz  granz  et  le  vis  platy 

Danz  de  choete  et  nes  de  chat. 
La  Mule  sans  Frain,  v.   506,   describes  a  vilain  as  being  trestot 
herupe.     We  have  noticed  above  the  charming  picture  of  Cortoisie 
given  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  41.     Compare  with  it  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  Vilonie,  i  p.  6: 

Une  ymage  qui  Vilonie 

Avoit  non,  revi  devers  destre. 


*A  similar  association  of  ideas  is  found  in  the  following  passages: 
Erec,  vv.  823,  1504-6,  3326-7;  Lancelot,  v.  2542;  Yvain,  vv.  703-4;  Marie  de 
France,  Lais,  Equitan,  vv.  55-7;  ibid.,  Le  Fraisne,  vv.  243-4;  ibid.,  Les  Dous 
Amanz,  vv.  21-22;  ibid.,  Milun,  vv.  23-24;  ibid.,  Yonec,  vv.  21-22,  101-2;  Marie 
de  France,  Fables,  lxxiv,  v.  1 1 ;  Bernart  de  Ventadour,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  73 ; 
Blondel  de  Neele,  p.  69;  Perceval,  vv.  14147-8,  14258,  14281-2,  20105,  30855-6; 
L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  885-6.  6505-7;  Aimeric  de  Belenoi,  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest., 
St.  30,  v.  34;  Flamenca,  vv  1785-7,  2215-8,  4137-9,  5848-51;  Blancandin,  vv. 
2161-3,  2509-10,  3689-90;  Fabliaux  i  II,  vv.  279-280;  ibid.,  iii  74,  vv.  15-18; 
ibid.,  iii  55,  vv.  20-23;  ibid.y  v  122,  vv.  89-90;  Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  v.  29772; 
Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii    16,  vv.  23-4. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  77 

Bien  sembloit  male  creature, 

Et  despiteuse  et  orguilleuse, 

Et  mesdisant  et  ramponeuse. 

Moult  sot  bien  paindre  et  bien  portraire 

Cil  qui  tiex  ymages  sot  faire ; 

Car  bien  sembloit  chose  vilaine, 

De  dolor  et  de  despit  plaine. 

Ibid.,  i  p.  95,  there  is  a  description  of  the  vilain  Dangiers.  He  was 
tall  and  black  and  bristling,  and  had  eyes  red  as  fire ;  his  nose  was 
wrinkled  and  his  countenance  hideous.  In  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  35, 
v.  25,  a  vilain  is  described  as  bossus  et  malestrus.  Vv.  56-7  of 
De  Constant  du  Hamel,  Fabliaux  iv  106,  add  to  the  characterization 
gros  et  malostrus  a  description  of  the  unkempt  and  unwashed  con- 
dition of  a  vilain-. 

II  n'est  sovent  rez  ne  tondus, 
Ainz  est  et  ors  et  deslavez. 

Vv.  84-91  of  Du  vilain  mi  buffet,  Fabliaux  iii  80,  give  a  similar 
description : 

Atan  tez   .i.   vilain  Raoul, 

Un  bouvier  qui  vient  de  charrue; 

Li  seneschaus  cele  part  rue 

Ses  iex,  s'a  choisi  le  vilain 

Qui  mout  estoit  de  lait  pelain : 

Deslavez  ert,  s'ot  chief  locu ; 

II  ot  bien  .L.  anz  vescu, 

Qu'il  n'avoit  eii  coirle  en  teste. 
Vv.  1 09-1 13  of  Du  prestre  et  du  chevalier }  Fabliaux  ii  34,  charac- 
terize vilains  as  "hideous  as  wolves  or  leopards." 

An  indirect  reference  to  the  ugliness  of  the  vilain  is  found  in* 
Yvain,  vv.  796-9: 

Mes  plus  de  Qant  foiz  se  seigna 
De  la  mervoille  que  il  ot, 
Comant  Nature  feire  sot 
Oevre  se  leide  et  si  vilainne. 


78  CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN. 

XVII. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS   INTELLIGENT;   THE  VILAIN  IS   STUPID, 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS   INTELLIGENT. 

The  superior  intelligence  of  the  cortois  was  much  insisted  upon 
by  the  mediaeval  writers  in  France  and  Provence.  De  Courtoisie, 
vv.  37-43,  recommends  to  one  who  would  be  cortois,  wise  judgment: 

Apres  estut,  qe  soietz  sage, 

Qe  ja  ne  facetz  outrage; 

Mes  de  tute  rien  qe  fere  deuetz 

Premerement  vous  purpensetz, 

A  quel  chef  vous  purretz  trere ! 

S'il  est  bon,  bien  est  a  fere, 

S'il  est  mal,  se  le  lessetz ! 
Vv.  1357-64  of  Guillaume  d' Angleterre  mention  the  superior  intelli- 
gence of  two  cortois  children : 

Quant  li  aufant  batisie  furent, 

Tant  amanderent  et  tant  crurent, 

Quant  ce  vint  au  chief  de  dis  anz, 

N'ot  el  monde  plus  biaus  anfanz, 

Plus  cortois  ne  plus  afeitiez; 

Qu'apris  les  ot  et  anseigniez 

Bone  nature  qui  tant  vaut 

Que  por  norreture  ne  faut. 
In  Perceval,  vv.  7195-7201,  we  read  of  a  girl  who  was  so  cortoise 
and  so  well  instructed  that  she  did  not  fear  being  tricked  by  Gawain. 
Ibid.,  vv.  1 2093- 1 2 108  describe  the  artistic  skill  of  a  Saracen  maiden 
who  moult  fu  cortoise  and  moult  fit  sage.  Vv.  376-387  of  Le 
Chevalier  a  I'Epee  give  an  instance  of  the  quick- wittedness  of 
cortois  Gawain : 

Endementres  Gauvain  apele 

Et  li  a  dit  et  conmanda 

Qu'il  ne  s'en  aut  jusqu'il  venra, 

Et  conmanda  a  un  serjant 

Que  se  il  fait  de  rien  sanblant, 

Que  il  lou  preignent  demanois. 

Gauvains,  qui  preuz  ert  et  cortois, 

Voit  bien  que  remanoir  l'estuet 

Et  q'autrement  estre  ne  puet; 

Si  li  avoit  dit  erranment 

Que  il  n'avoit  d'errer  talent, 

Por  qu'il  lo  voille  herbergier. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  79 

The  author  of  De  la  dame  qui  se  venja  du  chevalier,  Fabliaux  vi 
140,  v.  227,  expressed  the  relation  between  intelligence  and  cortoisic 
in  the  words, 

Car  grant  sens  gist  en  cortoisie. 
The  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  32564-7,  says  that  anyone  might  be 
cortois  who  had  wit  enough  to  apply  his  criticisms  of  Others  to 
himself.  In  Le  Court  d' Amour,  Gorra,  p.  296,  is  found  the  fol- 
lowing passage  in  which  a  cortois  churchman  is  represented  as 
being  so  wise  that  he  charmed  his  hearers  by  his  fine  reasoning: 

Apres  vi  jou  qui  se  leva 

Un  cortois  canoisne  rieule, 

Si  sage  et  si  bien  avise 

Que  le  baillieu  et  ses  barons 

Fist  liec  par  ses  beles  raisons. 
The  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  41,  defines  the  wisdom  of  Cortoisie  as 
modest  and  not  overweening: 

El  ne  fu  ne  nice  n'umbrage, 

Mes  sages  auques,  sans  outrage. 
Matfre  Ermengaud,  in  vv.  28669-74  of  the  Breviari  d'Amor,  ap- 
proves Aimeric  de  Pegulhan's  praise  of  folly,  saying  he  has  read 
that  a  wise  and  cortois  man  knows  how  to  be  foolish  at  the  proper 
time: 

E  nous  ne  meravilhes  ges 

Si  N'Aimeric  lauzet  foles, 

Quar  autre  savi  o  an  dig, 

Et  en  mans  luocx  o  trop  escrig 

Que  eel  es  savis  e  cortes 

Que  sab  foleja  quan  luocx  es.1 
In  the  following  passages  cleverness  and  cunning  are  ascribed 
to  the  cortois.     Cliges,  vv.  3270-6: 

Thessala  qui  servir  le  voit 

Panse  que  son  servise  pert, 

Qu'a  son  deseritemant  sert, 

Si  Fan  enuie  mout  et  poise, 

Puis  s'apanse  come  cortoise 

Que  del  boivre  servir  fera 

Celui  cui  joie  et  preuz  sera. 

*Cf.   the  well-known  line  of  Horace    {Odes  iv,    12,  v.   28)  :     Dulce  est 
desipere  in  loco. 


80  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

De  Constant  du  Hamel,  Fabliaux  iv  106,  vv.  512-514: 

La  dame,  qui  n'ert  pas  vilaine, 

Le  sot  tant  de  ses  diz  lober 

Qu'el  le  fist  enz  el  baing  entrer. 
Des  braies  au  cordelier,  Fabliaux  iii  88,  vv.  6-9 : 

II  avint,  si  com  j'o'i  dire 

Cuns  clers  amoit  une  borjoise 

Qui  moult  estoit  sage  et  cortoise; 

Mout  savoit  d'enging  et  d'aguet. 
Arnaud  de  Marueil,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  199: 

No  sai  messatge  tan  cortes 

Ni  que  mielhs  seles  totas  res. 
The  inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  foregoing  passages  as  to 
the  view  of  the  mediaeval  poets  upon  the  subject  of  the  superior 
intelligence  of  the  cortois  is  supported  by  a  still  larger  number  of 
passages  in  which  the  ideas  of  wisdom  and  cortoisie  are  associated. 
E.g.  Le  Couronnement  de  Louis,  v.  379 : 

Dist  l'apostoiles,  qui  fu  corteis  et  sages. 
Wace,  Brut,  vv.  8689-90: 

Gornois  un  quens  Cornvalois 

Mult  prous  et  saiges  et  cortois. 
Erec,  vv.  1484-5 : 

Qu'amie  ot  bele  a  desmesure, 

Sage  et  cortoise  et  deboneire.1 

(b)    THE   VILAIN  IS   STUPID. 

When  the  mediaeval  poets  mention  the  intelligence  of  the  vilain 
as  a  rule  they  characterize  him  as  stupid.  Thus  v.  1  of  De  la 
Sorisete  des  Est  opes,  Fabliaux  iv  105 : 

*For  other  examples  of  this  association  see  the  following  passages: 
Erec,  v.  3315;  Cliges,  v.  2458;  Lancelot,  vv.  140-1  and  3214-5;  Yvain,  vv.  98, 
1006-8,  2125,  5144,  5967;  Perceval,  vv.  508-9,  8010-3,  19866,  30290,  33246,  34798, 
36116-7,  38271,  43140,  45014;  Guillaume  d'Angleterre,  v.  1925;  Marie  de  France, 
Lais,  Eliduc,  vv.  134,  423;  Guingamor,  v.  10;  Tyolet,  vv.  535-6;  Doon,  v.  32; 
L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  87,  1670,  3846,  4490-1,  5713;  Flamenco,  vv.  1362,  2819, 
6849-50;  Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  21 ;  Blancandin,  vv.  22,  126,  5824  (cf.  v. 
5829)  ;  Fabliaux  i  20,  v.  105;  ibid.,  ii  34,  v.  906;  ibid.,  ii  52,  vv.  21 1-2;  ibid., 
iii  70,  v.  91;  ibid.,  v  no,  v.  8;  Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  31334-7,  32052-3;  De 
Courtoisie,  vv.  1-3;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  w.  P.,  iii  n,  v.  9. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  81 

Apres  vos  cont  d'un  vilain  sot. 
Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  ii  23,  v.  20 : 

si  laissiez  eel  vilain  sot. 
Ibid.,  i  41,  vv.  39-40: 

Mes  maris  n'estes  vos  mie, 

mauvais  vilains  rasoutes. 
Le  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  74 : 

Que  cil  vilains  entule  et  sot : 
Ibid.,  i  p.  63 : 

Onques  tel  response  n'issi 

D'omme  vilain  mal  enseignie: 
Beroul  in  Tristan  i  p.  62  calls  stupid  story-tellers  vilain : 

Li  contor  dient  que  Yvain 

Firent  tuer,  que  sont  vilain; 

N'en  sevent  mie  bien  l'estoire. 
Vv.   320-2  of  Perceval  refer  to  the  stupidity  of  spoiling  a  good 
story  in  the  telling  as  grans  vilonie : 

Grans  vilonie  est  et  grans  honte 

De  si  bon  conte  desmenbrer, 

Fors  ensi  com  il  doit  aler. 
N'Arnaut  Guilhem  de  Marsan  in  his  Ensenhamen,  Appel,  Prov. 
Chrest.,  St.  112,  vv.  55-62,  directs  that  one  should  keep  his  eyes 
and  hands  from  seeming  vilas;  and  the  way  to  do  this,  he  says,  is 
to  keep  the  eyes  from  looking  stupid  and  to  see  to  it  that  the  hands 
have  understanding.1 

An  important  class  of  exceptions  is  to  be  noticed  in  this  con- 
nection, however.  The  mediaeval  poet  might  say  what  he  liked  con- 
cerning the  lack  of  intelligence  of  the  vilain,  but  he  could  not  deny 
him  the  shrewdness  and  homely  wit  always  present  among  the 
lower  classes  and  expressed  in  their  proverbial  sayings.  When 
these  popular  sayings  are  quoted  by  the  poets  due  credit  is  often 
given  to  their  originators.  E.g.  Philipe  de  Thaun,  Ciimpos,  vv. 
131-8: 

^ess  direct  evidence  to  the  same  effect  is  found  in  the  following  pas- 
sages: Yvain,  vv.  635-6;  Guiraut  de  Calanso,  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest.,  St.  34,  v. 
30.  An  exception  is  the  fablel  Du  vilain  qui  conquist  paradis  par  plait,  Fab- 
liaux   iii  81 ;  see  especially  vv.  148-153. 


82  CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN. 

Qo  dit  en  repruvier 

Li  vilains  al  buvier: 

La  pire  ruelete 

Criet  de  la  charete; 

Mult  est  la  pume  dure 

Ki  unkes  ne  maure; 

La  verge  est  a  preisier 

Ki  se  laisset  pleier. 
Wace,  Brut,  vv.  4505-10: 

Mai  ferai  por  pis  remanoir, 

Ce  tient  li  vilains  a  savoir, 

Et  un  mal  doit  Ten  bien  sofrir 

Por  son  corps  de  pojor  garir, 

Et  por  son  anemi  plaissier 

Se  doit  Ton  alcuns  damagier.  » 

Thebes,  vv.  9057-8 : 

Li  vilains  dit:     "Qui  glaive  fait 

Senz  dotance  a  glaive  revait."1 

;  XVIII. 

THE  CORTOIS  IS  RELIGIOUS;  THE  V1LAIN  IS  NOT  RELIGIOUS, 
(a)    THE  CORTOIS  IS  RELIGIOUS. 

The  didactic  poem  De  Courtoisie,  vv.  45-50,  recommends  Chris- 
tian behaviour,  love  of  one's  neighbor,  and  love  of  the  church: 
Seietz  tut  jour  bon  crestien, 
Ametz  deu  sur  tute  rien 
E  vostre  preome,  come  vous, 
Tut  soit  il  busoignous, 
Et  si  ametz  saint'  Eglise 
Leaument  e  le  seruise ! 

Proverbs  of  the  vilain  thus  incorporated  into  mediaeval  texts  are  fre- 
quently met  with.  The  following  is  a  list  of  examples:  Troie,  vv.  3787-8, 
10331-2;  Floire  et  Blamceilor ,  vv.  1425-6;  Erec,  vv.  1-3;  Roman  du  Comte 
de  Poitiers,  vv.  1616-7;  Ron,  vv.  131 1-2;  Eracle,  vv.  3579-82;  Cliges,  vv. 
4571-4;  Lancelot,  vv.  6976-9;  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Eliduc,  vv.  61-3;  Tydorel, 
vv.  165-8;  La  Destruction  de  Rome,  vv.  151-4;  Rambaud  de  Vaqueiras,  Rayn. 
Choix  v  420;  Aliscans,  p.  47;  Le  Chevalier  a  l'£pee,  vv.  416-9,  1 184-5; 
Perceval,  vv.  26559-66,  331 10-3.  See  also  Li  Proverbe  au  Vilain,  hgg.  von 
Adolf  Tobler,  Leipzig    1895. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  83 

Chretien  de  Troies  in  Lancelot,  vv.  1852-4,  declares  that  a  knight 
who  entered  a  monastery  to  pray  was  not  acting  like  a  vilain,  i.e. 
was  acting*  the  part  of  a  cortois  knight : 

Ne  fist  que  vilains  ne  que  fos 

Li  chevaliers  qui  el  mostier 

Antra  a  pie  por  Deu  proiier. 
A  like  statement  is  found  in  vv.  1582-4  of  Blancandin: 

Et  lendemain  vont  au  mostier 

Li  chevalier  et  li  provos 

Qui  ne  fus  pas  vilain  ne  sos. 
Vv.  5-13  of  the  Romans  de  un  chivaler,  etc.,  Fabliaux  ii  50,  tell  of 
the  deeply  religious  life  of  a  woman  who  never  was  blamed   for 
vilainie,  but  was  very  corteise: 

Sa  femme  estoit  mult  bone  dame, 

De<  vilainie  n'out  unkes  blame ; 

Seinte  Esglise  mult  amoit, 

A  mushter  chascun  jor  aloit; 

Par  matin  il  i  voleit  estre 

Bien  sovent  ainz  ke  li  prestre. 

Mult  fu  de  grant  religion; 

A  nului  ne  vout  si  bien  noun. 

La  dame  fu  corteise  e  bele. 
Vv.  6-10  of  Du  Segretain  ou  du  Moine,  Fabliaux  v   123,  speak 
of  a  woman  who  was  cortoise,  and  gladly  went  to  church: 

Femme  avoit  tele  qu'en  .c.  mile 

Ne  trouvast  on  si  avenant, 

Si  courtoise  ne  si  vaillant, 

Si  sage  ne  si  bien  aprise ; 

Volentiers  aloit  a  l'eglise. 
Vv.   19-25  of  Le  Dit  don  Soucretain,  Fabliaux  vi   150,  tell  of  a 
cortoise  woman   who   went   to  the   church   to   pray   each   day   and 
stayed  to  hear  the  entire  service : 

ot  fame  prise 

Sage,  cortoise  et  bien  aprise, 

Bien  ansaigniee,  preuz  et  sage. 

Chaucun  jour  avoit  un  usage 

D'aler  prier  a  sainte  eglise, 

Et  d'escouter  tot  le  servise 

Que  li  couvens  si  biau  fasoit. 


84  CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN. 

(a)    THE  VILAIN  IS  NOT  RELIGIOUS. 

The  national  epic  furnishes  us  with  an  assertion  of  the  exclusion 
of  the  vilain  from  monastic  life.  La  Chevalerie  Ogier  de  Dane- 
marche,  vv.  10632-4: 

Chains  n'a  moigne,  bien  le  puis  tesmoigner, 

Qui  ne  soit  filz  a  gentil  chevalier; 

Fils  de  vilain  n'estra  ja  mes  cloistriers. 
Le  Donnei  des  Amants,  vv.  37-40,  says  that  the  vilain  has  nothing 
to  do  with  God  and  the  angels : 

Vilein  qui  est  a  Deu  contrarie 

Mustre  qu'il  n'ad  illuec  que  fere; 

Od  les  angeles  lez  e  joius 

N'ad  que  fere  vilain  grosus. 
In  vv.  19,  24-29  of  the  fablel  Du  Vilain  qui  conquist  Paradis  par 
Plait,  Fabliaux  iii  81,  Saint  Peter  is  represented  as  excluding  a 
vilain  from  paradise  and  making  the  general  statement  that  no  vilain 
is  ever  admitted  there: 

Seinz  Pierres,  qui  gardoit  la  porte, 


Demanda  qui  la  conduisoit : 

"Qaienz  n'a  nus  herbergement, 

Se  il  ne  l'a  par  jugement: 

Ensorquetot,  par  seint  Alain, 

Nos  n'avons  cure  de  vilain, 

Car  vilains  ne  vient  en  cest  estre." 
An  exception,  however,  is  made  in  the  case  of  this  particular  vilain, 
who  is  allowed  to  enter  after  he  has  proved  that  he  can  bien  confer 
sa  parole  by  reproaching  Peter,  Thomas  and  Paul  for  the  sins  they 
committed  on  earth  and  proving  to  God  that  he  has  himself  led  a 
good  life.  Vv.  8-22  of  Le  Pet  an  Vilain,  Fabliaux  iii  68,  state 
that  the  vilain,  excluded  from  paradise,  is  also  shut  out  from  hell: 

Ce  di  je  por  la  gent  vilaine, 

C'onques  n'amerent  clerc  ne  prestre, 

Si  ne  cuit  pas  que  Diex  lor  preste 

En  Paradis  ne  leu  ne  place. 

Onques  a  Jhesu  Crist  ne  place 

Que  vilainz  ait  herbergerie 

Avec  le  Fil  Sainte  Marie; 

Car  il  n'est  raison  ne  droiture, 

Ce  trovons  nous  en  Escriture: 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  85 

Paradis  ne  pueent  avoir 

Por  deniers  ne  por  autre  avoir; 

Et  a  Enfer  ront  il  failli, 

Dont  li  maufe  sont  maubailli; 

Si  orrez  par  quel  mesprison 

II  perdirent  celle  prison. 
The  fablel  goes  on  to  tell  how  the  vilain,  mistaking  the  place  of  exit 
of  the  soul  from  the  body,  commits  a  piece  of  coarseness  which  is 
resented  by  the  damned,  who  hold  a  council  and  decide  that  there- 
after no  soul  of  vilain  shall  be  received  in  hell.  Vilains'  souls  are 
thereafter  obliged  to  go  and  croak  with  the  frogs  in  the  kingdom 
of  Audigier's  father,  Turgibus.  Vv.  75-6  of  the  fablel  Du  Bouchier 
d'Abeville,  Fabliaux  iii  84,  show  that  the  vilain,  being  denied  the 
privileges  of  religion,  was  also  not  received  hospitably  at  the  dwelling 
of  a  priest: 

Ne  ce  n'est  pas  coustume  a  prestre 
Que  vilains  horn  gise  en  son  estre. 


XIX  (a). 

MISCELLANEOUS  ATTRIBUTES  OF  THE  CORTOIS   (FAVORABLE). 

In  addition  to  those  qualities  in  which  he  is  specifically  at  vari- 
ance with  the  vilain,  still  others  are  assigned  to  the  cortois  by 
mediaeval  writers,  and  these  are  also  favorable.  Of  these  the  quality 
most  often  assigned  to  the  cortois  is  that  of  general  excellence  im- 
plied in  the  adjective  preux  (brave,  valiant,  excellent).  The  gen- 
eral and  favorable  meaning  of  this  term  caused;  it  to  be  frequently 
used  beside  the  still  more  general  term  cortois  in  personal  descrip- 
tion. It  is  to  be  noticed,  also,  that  when  used  with  cortois  the  ad- 
jective preux  almost  always  precedes  it,  as  if  to  prepare  the  auditor 
or  reader  for  the  fuller  connotation  of  the  broader  term.  Excep- 
tions to  this  usage  are  comparatively  few;  e.g.,  Cliges,  v  899,  v. 
2985 ;  Perceval,  vv.  9546-7,  v.  16206.  The  association  of  the  ad- 
jectives preux  and  cortois  occurs  as  early  as  the  Chanson  de  Roland, 

v.  575 : 

E  Oliviers  li  proz  et  li  curteis. 

Ibid.,  v.  3755,  repeats  the  line  with  the  change  to  the  objective  case. 


86  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

In  Provengal  we  find  this  association  in  Giraud  le  Roux  (fl.  1140), 
Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  13 : 

,  dompna  corteza  e  pros.1 

Franchise  (nobility  of  character)  is  ascribed  to  the  cortois  by 
both  French  and  Provengal  writers.  Chretien  de  Troies  contrasts 
the  terms  vilains  and  frans  in  Yvain,  vv.  1816-7: 

Par  foi,  cist  n'est  mie  vilains, 
Ainz  est  mout  frans,  je  le  sai  bien. 

In   Lancelot,   v.    3966,   he    associates   the   ideas   of   franchise  and 
cortoisie : 

Qui  mout  estoit  frans  et  cortois.2 

In  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  31,  one  of  the  five  gold-tipped  arrows 
carried  by  Dous-Regars  is  called  Franchise,  and  is  thus  described: 

;  cele  iert  empenee 

De  Valor  et  de  Cortoisie. 

The  cortois  is  described  as  being  debonair e  (genteel,  of  good 
character).  The  didactic  poem  De  Courtoisie  makes  this  quality 
a  prime  requisite  (vv.  5-7)  : 

II  couent  al  primor 

Qe  vous  soietz  plein  de  docour 

E  de  grant  deboneretez. 

The  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  26,  terms  Cortoisie 

La  vaillant  et  la  debonnaire. 

The  adjectives  cortois  and  debonair e  and  the  corresponding  abstract 

Examples  of  the  association  of  preux  and  cortois  in  the  order  given  are 
found  in  the  following  passages:  Me  et  Galeron,  v.  1622;  Erec,  v.  687; 
Yvain,  v.  3  and  v.  6230;  Marie  de  France,  Fabeln  lxii,  v.  2;  Marie  de 
France,  Lais,  Prolog,  v.  44 ;  Guiot  de  Provins,  Wackernagle  p.  31 ;  Girart  de 
Rossillon,  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest.,  St.  1,  v.  174;  Tristan  i  p.  62;  Tydorel,  v. 
139;  Perceval,  w.  9533,  15425,  15655,  17666,  20326,  29287,  35000;  Le  Roman 
de  la  Rose,  i  p.  84;  Fabliaux  iv  94,  v.  2;  ibid.,  iii  77.  v.  23;  ibid.,  v  155,  v.  24; 
Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  v.  30509,  v.  31732;  Blancandin,  v.  1443. 

2A  similar  association  is  found  in  the  following  passages:  Rambaud 
d'Orange,  Rayn.  Choix  v,  p.  413;  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Guigemar,  v.  212; 
Tristan,  i  p.  9;  Guiraut  de  Bornelh,  Kolsen  p.  90,  v.  37;  Peyrols,  Rayn. 
Choix  v,  p.  286. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  87 

terms  are  placed   side   by   side   in   several   passages:     E.g.    Yvain, 
v.  1307: 

Come  cortoise  et  deboneire.1 
Great   prowess    is    attributed   to   the   cortois.     E.g.    Yvain,   vv. 
4020-3  s 

Qu'eles  l'avoient  ja  mout  chier, 

Et  cine  canz  tanz  plus  chier  l'eiissent 

Se  la  corteisie  seiissent 

Et  la  grant  proesce  de  lui.2 


XIX  (b). 

MISCELLANEOUS  ATTRIBUTES  OF  THE   VILAIN  (UNFAVORABLE). 

Slowness  is  attributed  to  the  vilain.     Erec,  vv.  474-6 : 

La  pucele  ne  tarda  plus, 

Ou'ele  n'estoit  mie  vilainne ; 

Par  le  main  contre  mont  Tan  mainne. 
Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Laustic,  v.  148: 

mes  ne  fu  pas  vileins  ne  lenz. 
Lai  de  Doon,  vv.  245-8 : 

"Mostre  ca  tost,"  fet  il,  "tes  mains." 

Li  vallez  ne  fu  pas  vilains, 

Ses  ganz  oste  hastivement, 

Andeus  ses  mains  li  mostre  et  tent. 
The  vilain  is  fol   (mad,  foolish).     Guillaume  d'Angleterre,  v. 
3249,  characterizes  the  vilain  as  mont  fole  beste.     In   Thebes,  v. 
5810,  the  ideas  of  folie  and  vilenie  are  associated : 

N'en  i  a  un  fol  ne  vilain.3 
The   vilain   is   pautoniers    (vagabond,    good-for-nothing).     Du 
Provost  a  Vaumuche,  Fabliaux  i  7,  v.  14 : 

Vilains  et  pautonniers  estoit. 
Du  Bouchier  d'Abeville,  Fabliaux  iii  84,  v.  96: 

Pautoniers  estes  et  vilains. 

*See  also  Perceval,  vv.  25581-3,  27328;  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  pp.  134  and 

155. 

2See  also  Cliges,  vv.  152-3;  Perceval,  vv.  12067-9;  Melion,  vv.  11-14. 

3See   also    Yvain,  vv.   51 19,  6570;   Perceval,   vv.    14395,   19002;   Claris  et 
Lark,  v.  8580;  Blancandin,  vv.  1315,  5055. 


88  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

The  vilain  is  felon  (villainous,  wicked).  In  the  Roman  de  la 
Rose,  i  p.  32,  one  of  the  five  black  arrows,  ledes  a  devise,  carried 
by  Dous  Regars 

Fu  apelee  Vilenie; 

Icele  fu  de  felonie 

Toute  tainte  et  envenimee. 
V.  24  of  a  chanson  de  toile  by  Maistre  Gilles  Li  Viniers,  Bartsch, 
A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  67,  thus  characterizes  the  vilain : 

tant  felon  vilain  le  truis. 
V.  451  of  Du  prestre  et  du  chevalier,  Fabliaux  ii  34,  associates  the 
adjectives  felon  and  vilain. 

The  vilain  is  low-minded.  Marie  de  France  in  the  Prolog  to 
her  fables,  ed.  Warnke,  pp.  4-5,  asks  the  reader's  pardon  for  re- 
producing faithfully  her  original,  since  in  doing  so  she  may  be 
obliged  to  write  words  of  indelicate  meaning  and  may  be  con- 
sidered vilaine  by  some  for  so  doing  (v.  36).  Vv.  280-3  of  Guil- 
laume  de  Dole  contain  a  similar  implication : 

Par  ceste  ochoison  si  ont  mises 

Lor  mains  a  mainte  blanche  cuisse : 

Je  ne  di  mie  que  cil  puisse 

Estre  cortois  qui  plus  demande. 


XX. 

THE   CORTOIS   IS    LOVED   AND    ESTEEMED;    THE    VILAIN   IS    NOT    LOVED, 
BUT  IS   DETESTED  AND   EXCLUDED. 

(a)    THE   CORTOIS   IS    LOVED  AND   ESTEEMED. 

The  mediaeval  French  and  Provencal  poets  represented  the 
cortois  as  possessing  all  admirable  qualities  and  entirely  free  from 
any  objectionable  ones.  Being  thus  the  perfect  knight  and  polished 
gentleman  he  was  irresistible  to  the  opposite  sex.  A  number  of 
passages  may  be  quoted  which  represent  a  person  possessed  of 
the  attributes  of  cortoisie  as  the  object  of  the  love  of  another.  One 
or  more  of  these  attributes  is  usually  mentioned  with  the  general 
term  cortois  which  includes  them  all.  Vv^  533-6  of  Eliduc,  Marie 
de  France,  Lais,  represent  a  maiden  as  yielding  herself  without 
reserve  to  one  who  is  sages  e  curteis: 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  89 

Tant  estes  sages  e  curteis, 
bien  avrez  purveii  anceis 
que  vus  voldrez  faire  de  mei. 
Sur  tute  rien  vus  aim  e  crei. 

In  w.  71-79  of  the  lay  of  Guingamor,  the  queen's  love  is  offered 
to  the  cortois  hero  in  the  following  terms : 

"Guingamor,  molt  estes  vaillans, 
Preuz  et  cortois  et  avenans : 
Riche  aventure  vos  atent; 
Amer  pouez  molt  hautement. 
Amie  avez  cortoise  et  bele : 
Je  ne  sai  dame  ne  danzele 
El  roiaume  de  sa  valor 
Si  vos  aimme  de  grant  amor : 
Bien  la  tenez  por  vostre  drue." 

In  vv.  1491-3  of  Blancandin,  L'Orgilleuse  d' Amors  tells  the  provost 
that  the  knight  would  not  take  his  daughter, 

Car  mult  a  plus  cortoise  amie 
Arrier  en  son  pais  laissie. 

In  L'Atre  Perillous,  vv.  481 1-3,  we  read  that  the  knight  Cadres 
loved  a  girl  who  was  bele  et  cortoise: 

Or  a  Cadres  joie  trop  grant ; 

Car  s'amie  qu'il  aime  tant, 

Et  qui  tant  est  bele  et  cortoise, 

In  vv.  3053-7  of  the  same  poem  are  quoted  the  words  of  a  man 
who  in  his  youth  loved  a  maiden, 

La  plus  cortoise  et  la  plus  bele, 
Qui  soit  de  si  a  Carlion. 

Not  only  do  we  find  passages  like  the  foregoing  which  depict 
a  cortois  man  or  cortoise  lady  as  loved,  but  a  number  of  examples 
may  be  cited  in  which  is  mentioned  the  fact  that  he  or  she  is  loved 
on  account  of  his  or  her  cortoisie.  Eliduc,  Marie  de  France,  Lais, 
vv.  348-350, 

Tant  par  est  sages  e  curteis, 

que,  s'il  ne  m'aime  par  amur, 

murir  m'estuet  a  grant  dolur. 


90  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

Les  Dous  Amanz,  M.  de  France,  Lais,  vv.  67-70: 

Pur  ceo  que  pruz  fu  e  curteis 

E  que  mult  le  preisot  li  reis, 

li  otria  sa  druerie, 

e  cil  humblement  Ten  mercie. 
Le  Chevalier  a  l'£pee,  vv.  314-7: 

Tant  Tot  cortoisement  parler 

Et  tant  lo  voit  de  bones  mors, 

Que  ele  l'amast  par  amors 

S'ele  descovrir  li  osast.1 

In  several  didactic  passages  cortoisie  is  named  as  a  prime  re- 
quisite for  one  who  would  be  loved.  Vv.  2189-2200  of  La  Clef 
d' Amors  direct  a  maiden  who  wishes  to  be  loved  to  be  very  careful 
to  be 

avisee, 

plesante,  de  bele  maniere, 

sage,  courtoise  et!  biau  parliere, 

and  that  in  her  there  should  be  no  vilame, — thus  making  cortoisie 

and   some  of  its   most  important   manifestations   prerequisites   for 

gaining  man's  love.     The  Brevtari  d'Amor  names  similar  qualities 

which  a  lady  should  require  in  a  man  whom  she  would  love.     Vv. 

30583-9: 

Dona  que  enten  en  amar 

Deu  tal  entendedor  triar 

Que  sia  savis  a  cortes 

Car  nul  autra  causa  non  es 

On  convenha1  mielhs  horns  senatz 

E  cortes  e  amezuratz 

Quo  fai  en  los  ditz  faits  d'amors : 

Vv.  30749-52 : 

Dona  done  qu'enten  en  amor 
Deu  cauzir  per  entendedor 
Home  savi,  pros  e  cortes 
Ez  avinen  e  ben  apres. 

*See  also  Marie  de  France,  Lais,  Lanval,  vv.  113-6;  Blondel  de  Neele,  p. 
42;  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  4,  vv.  21-3;  Le  Chevalier  a  l'£pee,  vv.  571-4; 
Perceval,  vv.  32813-9;  Flamenco,  vv.  2960-4,  5872-5;  Blancandin,  vv.  549-53, 
1997-9;  La  Clef  d' Amors,  vv.  617-32. 


CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN.  91 

Vv.  241-4  of  La  Clef  d' Amors,  whose  purpose  was  to  guide  a  man 
in  the  choice  of  his  lady-love,  closes  the  list  of  adjectives  describing 
the  qualities  she  should  possess  with  the  verse, 

Sage,  courtoise  et  henorable. 
Beside  being  loved,  we  find  that  the  cortois  was  held  in  high 
esteem  by  those  with  whom  he  was  thrown  into  contact.     An  ex- 
pression of  this  sentiment  is  found  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  i  p.  41 : 

Apres  se  tenoit  Cortoisie, 

Qui  moult  estoit  de  tous  prisie, 

Si  n'ere  orgueilleuse  ne  fole. 
In  v.  155  of  Le  Lai  de  I'Oiselet  the  Deity's  preference  for  cortoisie 
is  stated : 

Dieus  aime  onor  et  cortoisie. 
Garis  lo  Brus,  quoted  in  the  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  32222-5,  states 
that  cortoisie  is  knowing  how  to  speak  and  act  in  such  a  manner 
that  one's  friends  are  compelled  to  love  him: 

Cortezia  es  tals, 

Si  voletz  saber  cals, 

Qui  be  sap  dir  e  far 

Per  qu'om  lo  dei'  amar.1 
An  important  indication  of  the  favorable  attitude  of  the  courtly 
poets  toward  the  cortois  is  found  in  those  passages  in  which  the 
cortois  is  represented  as  being  admitted  to  some  especially  desirable 
place,  while  the  vilain  is  excluded.  It  appears  that  the  poets  did 
not  think  it  necessary  always  to  mention  the  admission  of  the  cortois, 
but  they  never  lose  an  opportunity  of  getting  in  a  thrust  at  the 
vilain  by  mentioning  his  exclusion.  The  only  example  of  the 
specific  admission  of  the  cortois  that  I  am  able  to  cite  is  found  in 
Li  Fablel  dou  Dieu  d} Amours,  p.  16: 

Et  s'uns  cortois  vausist  laiens  aler, 

En  eel  vergie  por  son  cors  deporter, 

Trovast  la  porte  ouverte  por  entrer, 

Que  ja  li  pons  n'eust  soing  de  lever. 

(b)    THE  VILAIN  IS  NOT  LOVED,  BUT  IS  DETESTED  AND  EXCLUDED. 

As  the  cortois  was  the  one  eminently  worthy  of  love,  so  the 
vilain  was  unworthy  of  it,  and  was  loathed  and  excluded.     In  vv. 

'See  also*  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  2,  vv.  20-1;  Melton,  vv.  7-8;  Perceval,. 
vv  28672-5;  Le  Breviari  d'Amor,  vv.  30546-54;  Lecheor,  vv.  55-60. 


<92  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

i-ii  of  Le  Chevalier  a  I'Epee,  the  author  invites  those  who  love 
pleasure  to  listen  to  an  adventure  which  happened  to  Gawain 
.   qui  n'ama  onques  nul  jor 

Home  coart,  faus  ne  vilain. 
In  vv.  745-7  of  Blancandin,  l'Orgilleuse  d' Amors,  who  has  been 
kissed  by  Blancandin  and  does  not  know  who  he  is,  grieves  at  the 
thought  that  he  may  not  be  cortois : 

Que  sai  jou  or  s'il  est  vilains? 

Trop  est  mes  cuers  de  dolor  plains ; 

Trop  est  cis  baisiers  pris  en  grief. 
In  a  chanson  de  toile,  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  48,  vv.  15-16,  we  find 
a  lady  de  grant  biaute  saying  that 

james  n'amera  vilain, 

car  trop  sont  mauves.1 
Hatred  toward  the  vilain  is  such  a  commonplace  in  courtly 
poetry,  and  is  so  manifest  in  everything  that  is  said  concerning 
him,  that  it  hardly  needs  special  emphasis  here.  A  verse  from  the 
fablel  De  sire  Hain  et  de  Dame  Anieuse,  Fabliaux  i  6,  is  particularly 
outspoken  and  direct;  in  v.  174  Anieuse  thus  addresses  her  husband: 

Vilains,  dist-ele,  je  te  haz. 
Vv.  29-32,  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  27,  express  the  loathing  of  the 
nightingale  for  the  vilain  who  has  been  listening  to  her  song: 

Li  rosignolez  disoit: 

par  un  pou  qu'il  n'enrajoit 

du  grant  duel  que  il  avoit, 

que  vilains  l'avoit  oi. 
In  a  chanson  de  toile  by  Maistre  Gilles  Li  Viniers,  Bartsch,  A.  R. 
u.  P.,  i  67,  there  is  a  very  virulent  attack  upon  the  vilain,  in  this 
case  the  husband  of  the  woman  who  speaks,  vv.  37-45 : 

Compaignete,  or  vos  kerrai: 

ja  d'amors  ne  partirai. 

et  se  li  vilains  en  gronce, 

saves  vous  ke  je  ferai? 

jamais  n'ere  vers  li  douce 

mais  si  bien  le  baterai, 

^See  also  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  72,  vv.   15-16;  ibid.,  ii  57,  vv.  72-84; 
Fabliaux   i  11,  vv.  26-7. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  93 

jamais  ne  mangera  de  pain : 

chi  le  me  foule,  foule,  foule, 

chi  le  me  foule  le  vilain. 
Le  Donnei  des  Amants,  vv.  41-46,  says  that  when  the  birds  sing 
most  sweetly  they  are  but  trying  to  provoke  the  vilain: 

Li  oiselet,  men  essient, 

Quant  il  chantent  plus  doucement, 

S'esforcent  plus  e  seir  e  mein 

Pur  tarier  le  fel  vilein, 

E  les  gelus  ensurquetut, 

Ke  joie  e  chant  heent  de  but.1 
Detested  as  he  was,  the  vilain  is  represented  as  being  excluded 
from  desirable  places  to  which  the  cortois  is  admitted,  such  as 
enchanted  parks  and  palaces.  In  Li  Fablel  dou  Dieu  d}  Amours,  p. 
15,  such  a  park  is  described,  the  drawbridge  over  whose  moat 
always  closed  of  its  own  accord  whenever  a  vilain  stepped  upon  it : 

Ains  ne  fust  eure  se  vilains  i  venist, 

Et  ce  fust  cose  que  ens  entrer  volsist, 

Oustre  son  gre,  qant  sor  le  pont  venist, 

Levast  li  pons,  et  li  porte  closist. 
Ibid.,  p.   16,  we  are  told  that  entrance  to  this  park  is  refused  to 
vilains  because  it  belongs  to  the  God  of  Love : 

Chius  vregies  ert  as  vilains  en  defors, 

Car  c'ert  celi  ki  d'amors  estoit  rois. 
Beginning  with  v.    13328  of  Perceval  a  magic  tent  is   described, 
which   (vv.   1 336 1 -4)  the  vilain  is  prevented  from  entering  by  an 
image  at  one  side  of  the  entrance: 

L'autre  ymage  del  autre  part 

Ens  en  sa  main  tenoit  un  dart, 

Ja  n'i  veist  entrer  vilain 

Ne  le  ferist  trestout  a  plain. 
Vv.  1 89- 191,  202-4,  of  De  Florance  et  de  Blanche  Flor  speak  of 
the  palace  of  the  God  of  Love,  entrance  to  which  for  the  vilain  is 
accompanied  by  an  impossible  condition : 

1Ste  also  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  25,  vv.  9-10,  15-18;  ibid.,  i  41,  vv.  21-27; 
ibid.,  i  48,  vv.  29-36. 


94  CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN. 

La  tor  virent  et  le  palais 
Qui  ne  fu  pas  de  pierre  fais, 
La  ou  li  Diex  d'amors  estoit. 


Ja  sera  vilain  si  os 

Qu'il  past  le  postiz  de  la  porte, 

Se  le  seel  d'amors  n'i  porte. 
Thebes,  vv.  2947-50,  in  a  description  of  the  king's  tent,  mentions 
the  golden  eagle  upon  its  summit  at  which  no  vilain  dares  to  look : 

Li  aigles  d'or  est  a  neel, 

Qui  est  assis  sor  le  pomel ; 

Onques  nus  hon  ne  vit  tant  cler, 

Vilains  ne  l'ose  regarder. 
The  courtly  poets  in  the  introductory  verses  of  their  poems  often 
stated  that  they  were  not  going  to  treat  of  the  vilain,  or  of  vilenie. 
For  instance,  the  author  of  Thebes,  vv.  17-19,  says: 

Ne  parlerai  de  peletiers, 

Ne  de  vilains,  ne  de  berchiers ; 

Mais  de  dous  freres  vos  dirai,   .    .    . 
The  author  of  Le  Lai  d'Aristote,  Fabliaux  v  137,  vv.  42-46,  says  he 
is  going  to  tell  a  story 

Qui  bien  doit  estre  desploie 

Et  dite  par  rime  et  retraite 

Sanz  vilonie  et  sanz  retraite, 

Quar  oevre  ou  vilonie  cort 

Ne  doit  estre  noncie  a  cort ; 
Then  he  goes  on,  vv.  47  ff.,  to  make  the  general  statement  that  he 
will  never  put  any  vilenie  into  his  writings,  and  gives  as  his  reason, 
w.  52-53 : 

Quar  vilonie  si  defface 

Tote  riens  et  tolt  sa  savor. 
The  author  of  Guillaume  de  Dole  states,  vv.  10-15,  that  his  work 
will  be  unintelligible  to  the  vilain : 

Einsi  a  il  chans  et  sons  mis 

En  cestui  romans  de  la  Rose, 

Qui  est  une  novele  chose, 

Et  s'est  des  autres  si  divers 

Et  brodez  par  lieus  de  biaus  vers, 

Que  vilains  nel  porroit  savoir. 


CORTOIS  AND  VILAIN.  95 

One  reason  given  by  the  poets  why  the  vilain  was  thus  detested 
is  that  he  was  enuieus  (importunate,  disagreeable,  vexatious).  In 
a  chanson  de  toile,  Bartsch,  A.  R.  u.  P.,  i  48,  v.  32,  the  vilain  is  said 
to  be  plain  d'annui.  Enid  and  vilenie  are  often  associated.  E.g. 
Rambaud  d'Orange,  Rayn.  Choix  v,  p.  408 : 

Enuios,  vilans,  mals  parliers 

Yvain,  v.  90: 

Enuieus  estes  et  vilains. 
Eracle,  vv.  2183-4: 

Li  mains  aprise  est  mout  courtoise, 

Sanz  vilonie  et  sanz  anui.1 
Enuieus  is  contrasted  with  cortois  in  Du  Prestre  et  d*  Alison,  Fab- 
liaux ii  31,  vv.  338-9: 

Gardez  ennuieus  n'i  soiez, 

Mais  soiez  sages  et  cortois. 
The  cortois  is  warned  against  enui  in  De  Courtoisie,  v.  91 : 

Ne  seietz  mie  enuious. 


XXI. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

The  results  of  the  present  investigation  are,  briefly,  as  follows. 
The  cortois  and  vilain  are  represented  as  possessing  opposite  per- 
sonal characteristics  in  French  and  Provengal  texts  at  least  as  early 
as  the  first  third  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  they  continue  to  be  thus 
represented  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
cortois  is  pictured  as  being  of  polished  manners,  gentle  and  courte- 
ous in  speech,  always  taking  the  middle  course,  humble,  considerate 
in  his  relations  with  his  fellows  and  helpful  to  others,  upright  in 
character,  loyal,  generous,  wearing  fine  garments,  courageous, 
a  perfect  lover,  of  a  merry  disposition,  of  fine  personal 
appearance,  possessing  a  high  order  of  intelligence,  and  of  a  religious 
turn  of  mind ;  wherefore  he  was  an  object  of  admiration  to  the 

*See  also  Bernard  de  Ventadour,  Rayn,  Choix  iii,  p.  43  and  p.  65;  Bertrand 
de  Born,  Rayn.  Choix  iii,  p.  136;  Raimbaut  de  Vaqueiras,  Appel,  Prov.  Chrest., 
St.  90,  vv.  28-9;  Perceval,  v.  16474;  L'Atre  Perillotis,  v.  5972;  Le  Breviari 
a" Amor,  v.  10340. 


96  CORTOIS  AND  VI LAIN. 

opposite  sex  and  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  friends.  His 
morals  might  be  either  loose  or  strict.  The  vilain,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  represented  as  being  of  rude  manners,  rough  in  speech, 
apt  to  go  to  extremes,  unduly  proud  and  haughty,  devoid  of  con- 
sideration for  his  fellows  and  unwilling  to  help  them,  wicked  and 
untrustworthy,  stingy,  cowardly,  ignorant  of  the  art  of  courtly  love, 
of  a  gloomy  temperament,  ugly  and  uncouth  in  personal  appearance, 
stupid  in  general,  though  possessing  a  shrewd  mother-wit,  and 
destitute  of  religious  feeling;  wherefore  he  was  an  object  of  loathing 
to  the  opposite  sex  and  was  held  in  contempt  by  all.  His  morals 
were  universally  bad.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing  list  of  traits,  of 
which  those  assigned  to  the  cortois  are  almost  without  exception  ad- 
mirable and  paralleled  by  their  exact  opposites  attributed  to  the  vilain, 
other  miscellaneous  characteristics  of  each  are  mentioned,  and  these 
are  also  commendable  in  the  case  of  the  cortois  and  reprehensible  in 
the  case  of  the  vilain.  The  evident  fact  that  to  the  cortois  and 
vilain  were  consistently  assigned  opposite  characteristics  in  mediaeval 
French  and  Provencal  poetry  shows  plainly  that  the  writers  of  that 
period  were  conscious  of  a  tendency  to  radically  distinguish  between 
them. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  97 


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Dr.  E.  Moore,  Oxford  1894. 
La  Destruction  de  Rome,  Romania  ii,  1-48. 
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2  vols.     vol.  ii,  pp.  50-57. 
Un  Dist  que  on  clamme  Respon;  Jubinal,  Nouveau  Recueil,  vol.  1, 

pp.  173-180. 
Dit  sur  les  Vilains,  par  Matazone  de  Calignano,  pub.  by  P.  Meyer 

in  Romania  xii,  pp.  20-24. 
Doctrinal  le  Sauvage,  Jubinal,  Nouveau  Recueil,  vol.  ii,  pp.  1 50-161. 
Li  Romans  de  Dolo pathos,  p.  p.  Brunet  et  Montaiglon,  Paris  1856. 
Le  Donnei  des  Amants,  pub.  by  G.  Paris  in  Romania  xxv,  pp.  500- 

522. 
Lai  de  Doon,  p.  p.  G.  Paris,  Romania  viii,  pp.  61-64. 
Du  Cange,  Glossarium  Mediae  et  Iniimae  Latinitatis,  Editio  Nova  a 

Leopold  Favre,  Niort  1883- 1887. 
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1873.     Bibliothek  des  litt.     Vereins  in  Stuttgart. 
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anciens  textes  frangais. 
Eneas,  p.  p.   De  Grave,  Halle   1891.     Bibliotheca  Normannica  iv. 
Eracle,  see  Gautier  d' Arras. 
Erec  und  Enide  von  Christian  von  Troyes,  hgg.  von  W.  Foerster, 

Halle  1890. 
L'Escouile,  Roman  d'Aventure,  p.  p.  H.  Michelant  et  P.   Meyer, 

Paris  1894.     Societe  des  anciens  textes  frangais. 
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Halle  1872. 
Le  Roman  de  Flamenca,  p.  p.  Paul  Meyer,  Paris  1865. 
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la  France. 
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1888. 
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1879.     Bibliotheca  Normannica  i. 
Gustav  Grober,  Grundriss  der  Romanischen  Philologie,  Strassburg 

1 888- 1 902.     2  vols. 
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Romanischen  Philologie  vi. 
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la  France. 
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Me  et  Galeron,  see  Gautier  d'Arras. 
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d'Angleterre)  von  Christian  von  Troyes,  hgg.  von  W.  Foerster, 

Halle  1899. 
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Bibliotheca  Normannica  vi. 
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Bibliotheca  Normannica  iii. 
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INDEX  OF  CITATIONS.  101 


INDEX  OF  CITATIONS. 


Aimeric  de  Belenoi ;  70,  7611. 

Aimeric  de  Pegulhan ;  79. 

Alexandre ;  22. 

Alfabeto  del  villano;  15. 

Aliscans;  8211. 

Amadas  et  Ydoine;  54,  64. 

Andre  le  Chapelain,  De  Amore;  18,  24,  48,  52,  60,  62,  67. 

Appel,  Froz/.  Chrest.  (anonymous  citation)  ;  73m 

Arnaud  de  Marueil ;  30,  80. 

N'Arnaut  Guilhem  de  Marsan,  Ensenhamen  ;  52,  81. 

L'Atre  Perillous;  nn,  12,  15,  17,  19,  21,  22,  27,  29,  31,  32,  33,  39, 

4on,  41,  43  &  n,  46,  49,  53,  61,  62,  76n,  8on,  89,  95m 
Bartsch,  A.  R.  u*.  P.;  17  &  N,  22,  3on,  31  &  n,  38n,  44,  46,  5on,  51, 

58,  61,  63  &  n,  64,  69,  72  &  n,  73,  74,  76n,  77,  8on,  81,  88,  ox)n, 

9111,  92  &  n,  93n,  95. 
£<?/  Inconnu;  36n. 

Bernart  de  Ventadour;  22,  45,  65,  76n,  95m 
Bertrand  d'Allamanon  Ier;  42n. 
Bertrand  de  Born ;  14,  22,  g$n. 
Bertrand  de  Pujet;  5on. 
Blacas ;  58. 
Blancandin;  ijn,  22,  24,  25  &  n,  36n,  43  &  n,  45,  62n,  71,  76n,  8on, 

83,  86n,  87n,  89,  ox>n,  92. 
Blondel  de  Neele;  10,  15,  25,  76n,  9on. 
Breviari  d'Arnor  (Matfre  Ermengaud)  ;   15,  22,  23,  24,  26n,  27n, 

29,  31,  32,  33,  42n,  45,  5^,  55n,  57,  58,  59,  60,  61,  62,  73,  76n, 

79,  8on,  86n,  90,  91  &  n,  95n. 
Brut  (Wace)  :  7,  9,  11,  48,  49,  50,  54,  55,  56,  80,  82. 
Cadenet ;  65. 

Cancioneiro  Galle  go-Castelhano ;  28n,  48. 
Cercamon  513. 
Chastelaine  de  Vergi;  71. 
Chevalerie  Ogier;  84. 
Chevalier  a  l'£pee;  ijn,  19,  20  &  n,  22,  29,  36n,  42,  45,  53,  66,  70, 

71,  74,  78,  82n,  90  &  n,  92. 
Chretien    de    Troies    (see   also    Cliges,    Erec,    Lancelot,   Perceval, 

Yvain)  ;  59-60,  66. 
Claris  et  Laris;  26n,  31,  38n,  87n. 

Clef  d' Amors;  15,  17,  21,  22,  26n,  44,  60,  63,  65,  70,  90  &  n,  91. 
Cleomades;  57, 


102  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

Cliges  (Chretien)  ;  16,  30,  4211,  50,  51,  66,  72,  79,  8on,  8211,  85,  8711. 

Comte  de  Poitiers;  8211. 

Comtesse  de  Die;  30. 

Couronnement  de  Louis;  46,  80. 

Court  d 'Amour  (Mahius  li  Poriiers)  ;  2711,  79. 

De  Courtoisie;  15,  24,  28,  29,  31,  32,  41,  45,  49,  61,  78,  8on,  82,  86, 

95- 
Dante,  Convito;  9,  48. 
Dante,  Vita  Nuova;  38,  48. 
Dauphin  d'Auvergne;  26. 
Destruction  de  Rome;  82n. 
Dist  que  on  clamme  Respon;  J2xv. 
Dit  de  Gentillece;  11. 

Doctrinal  le  Sauvage;  25n,  26n,  30,  45n,  55. 
Dolopathos;  2yn. 

Donnei  des  Amants;  47,  73,  74,  84,  93. 
Doon;  8on,  87. 
Durmart  le  Galois;  54. 
Elie  de  Saint  Gille;  56. 
Zneas;  53,  56,  63,  66. 
Enfances  Ogier;  47. 
Eracle;  82n,  95. 
Erec  (Chretien)  ;  nn,  20,  22,  23,  30,  31,  33,  44,  45  &  n,  47,  49,  50, 

55n,  56,  65,  72n,  76  &  n,  80  &  n,  82n,  86n,  87. 
L'EscouHe;  39,  46. 

Fablel  dou  Dieu  d} Amours;  24,  27,  65,  66,  91,  93. 
Fabliaux;  9,  10,  15,  16,  17,  i8n,  19,  2on,  21,  22,  23,  26n,  28  &  n,  32, 

34,  36,  41,  43  &  n,  45n,  47,  son,  51  &  n,  57,  62,  63n,  67,  68,  69, 

70,  72n,  75,  76n,  yy,  79,  80  &  n,  8in,  83,  84,  85,  86n,  87,  88,  92 

&  n,  94,  95. 
Fergus;  26. 
Flamenca;  15,  17  &  n,  19,  20,  22,  25,  34,  4on,  41,  42n,  44,  49,  5on, 

62,  64,  76n,  8on,  9on. 
Floire  et  BlanceHor;  82n. 

De  Florance  et  de  Blanche  Flor;  nn,  26n,  63,  93. 
Folquet  de  Marseille ;  48. 
Garis  lo  Brus;  23,  52,  58,  91. 
Gaucelm  Faidit;  27n. 
Gaufrey;  55n. 
Gay  don;  49. 

GefTrei  Gaimar,  see  Lestorie  des  Engles. 
Giacomino  Pulgliese;  39. 
Girart  de  Rossillon;  86n. 
Giraud  le  Roux ;  42,  86. 
Grant  mal  fist  Adam;  13. 
Guilhem,  comte  de  Peitieu;  10,  13,  25,  62,  66. 
Guillaume  d'Angleterre ;  22,  25,  37,  38,  51,  78,  8on,  87. 
Guillaume  de  Cabestaing;  62n. 


INDEX  OF  CITATIONS.  103 

Guillaume  de  Dole;  10,  88,  94. 

Guillaume  de  Saint-Didier ;  44. 

Guillaume  Magret;  59. 

Guingamor ;  7,  8on,  89. 

Guiot  de  Provins ;  86n. 

Guiraut  de  Bornelh;  15,  86n. 

Guiraut  de  Calanso;  8in. 

Guiraut  de  Quentinhac ;  57. 

Horace;  7911. 

Hugues  Brunet;  58. 

Hugues  Capet;  4011,  55. 

Hugues  de  Saint-Cyr;  15. 

Ignaurcs,  Lai  d' ;  2611,  54,  70. 

Me  et  Galeron;  8,  27,  64,  66,  86n. 

Jacques  de  Cambrai ;  42. 

Jaufre;  7,  24. 

Jaufre  Rudel;  13. 

Jean  de  Conde,  Des  Vilains  et  des  Courtois;  8,  9,  11,  15. 

Lamberti  de  Bonanel ;  4311. 

Lancelot  (Chretien)  ;  18,  20,  22,  27,  40,  43,  47,  58,  66,  68,  76n,  8on, 

82n,  83,  86. 
Lanfranc  Cigala;  60. 
Lecheor;  9m. 

Lestorie  des  Engles  (GefTrei  Gaimar)  ;  6,  II. 
Leys  d' Amors,  Las ;  60. 
Marcabrus ;  28,  58,  59. 
Marie  de  France,  Fables ;  8,  76n,  86n,  88. 
Marie  de  France,  Lais;  26,  27,  38n,  4on,  43n,  47,  49,  50,  53,  55n,  61, 

72n,  76n,  8on,  82n,  86n,  87,  88,  89,  90  &  n. 
Matfre  Ermengaud,  see  Breviari  d'Amor. 
Melion;  87n,  9m. 
Miraval;  61. 
Mule  sanz  Train;  76. 
Oiselet,  Lai  de  V ;  44,  52,  91. 
Partonopeus  de  Blots;  14,  47. 
Peire  Raimon  de  Toulouse;  58. 
Pelerinage  de  Charlemagne;  23. 
Perceval;  11  &  n,  14,  15,  16,  17  &  n,  18  &  n,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23  &  n,  25, 

26,  27,  28,  29,  3on,  31,  32,  34,  35,  36  &  n,  38  &  n,  39,  41,  42, 

43  &  n,  45,  46,  47,  5m,  52,  54,  57,  59,  66,  69,  71,  72  &  n,  75,  76n, 

78,  8on,  81,  82n,  85,  86n,  87n,  9on,  93,  95n. 
Petrarch ;  48. 
Peyrols;  86n. 

Philippe  de  Thaiin,  Bestiaire;  50,  81. 
Pierre  Rogiers;  59. 
Pons  de  Capdueil ;  14,  62n. 
Raimond  de  Miravals;  26. 
Rambaud  de  Vaqueiras ;  14,  82n,  95n. 


104  C0RT0IS  AND  VILAIN. 

Rambaud  d'Orange;  86n,  95. 
Rayn.  Choix  (anonymous  citation)  ;  73n. 
Respit  del  c.  et  del  v.;  II,  15,  51,  72m 
Robert  le  Diable;  yn. 
Roland,  Chanson  de;  22,  29,  31  &  n,  85. 

Rose,  Roman  de  la;  8,  10,  12,  15,  21,  22,  23n,  24,  26  &  n,  32,  34,  40, 
41,  51,  58,  60,  62,  65,  73,  74,  75,  76,  79,  8on,  81,  86  &  n,  87n,  88, 

Rou  (Wace)  ;  9,  14,  56,  75,  82n. 
vS>/>£  Sages;  9n,  nn. 

Thebes;  7,  9,  17,  18,  22,  35,  37,  40,  56,  82,  87,  94. 
Tristan;  37,  38n,  71,  72n,  81,  86n. 
Troie  (Benoit  de  Sainte-More)  ;  14,  56,  72,  73,  82n. 
Trot;  53. 

Tydorel;  i8n,  22,  5  m,  82n,  86n. 
Tyolet;  9n,  57,  75,  8on. 
N'Uc  Brunet  de  Rodes ;  14,  32. 
N'Uc  de  la  Bachalairia ;  58. 
Wace,  see  Brut,  Rou. 

Yvain  (Chretien)  ;  14,  27n,  30,  33,  35,  36,  40,  42,  45,  50,  51,  55,  59, 
76  &  n,  77,  8on,  8in,  86  & j^&n,  95. 

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